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Profiles of Historic Conscientious Objectors
Dorothy Day
"The world will be saved by beauty."
Dostoevsky was one of Dorothy Day's favorite writers. The above quote summarizes the beliefs that she held, as well as the way that she lived and worked. Dorothy, who became Catholic one year after her daughter was born, believed that beauty is found in Christ. She in turn tried to find Christ's beauty in each person that she came into contact with. She said, "Those who cannot see the face of Christ in the poor are atheists indeed." Before founding the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day had been a journalist and liberal activist for several years. She joined communist, socialist and union groups. However, she faced difficulties finding her individual purpose in life and finding a place that would help her to develop this purpose. In 1932, after reporting on the "Hunger March of the Unemployed", she prayed that "...some way would open up for me to use what talents I possessed for my fellow workers, for the poor." Several days later, she met Peter Maurin, an eccentric thinker, Catholic and revolutionary. Together, the two of them launched the Catholic Worker movement which included the newsletter, the "Houses of Hospitality," and farming communities. The newsletter quickly grew to have a circulation of 150,000 and the "House of Hospitality," that provided food, work, housing, and other basic necessities to the poor, sprung up across the country. Inseparable from her beliefs about love and service were her pacifist beliefs. Like so many others, she was endlessly criticized for these ideas. Dorothy believed, as the Bible says, that by helping others, she helps God. By destroying others, in war or in any other way, she destroys God. As well as writing and speaking about peace, Dorothy organized the Committee of Catholics to Fight Anti-Semitism. She also refused to participate in New York City's civil defense drills. This action and other actions of civil disobedience that she performed put her in jail a total of seven times throughout her life. She viewed these prison sentences not as setbacks, but as opportunities to visit the prisoners, continuing her work. "...If we are trying to see Christ in our neighbor, we must see to his dignity, his worth, his position as a son of God. And to do this, it is not enough just to help out in an emergency. It is necessary to build a society where people are able by their work to sustain themselves, but also by mutual aid, to bear one another's burdens..." Dorothy Day did more than her part to make this type of society a reality. Her life also called many others to actively find Christ's beauty in all people. Dorothy Day: By Little and By Little: The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day. Robert Ellsberg, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.: New York. 1983. For more information, visit the following Web sites: |
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