Why Dorothy Day Matters

Last updated on: June 14, 2018 at 11:28 am by Chase Padusniak

Why Dorothy Day Matters 2018-06-14T11:28:18-04:00 Chase Padusniak

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A painting of Dorothy Day. Flickr.

In a piece entitled “Dorothy Day: The Model You Want,” a friend once wrote:

I suspect that Peter, also Chase, Bishop Barron, and I, see something more in Day than just fidelity to the Church. We see goodness and heroism. We see a desire to take Jesus at His word far greater than we manage. Instructions we treat as metaphors — turn the other cheek, go the second mile, give someone your second coat — she lived out at great cost to herself. (David Mills)

David is right, of course. Dorothy’s radicalism, her unbashful commitment to the idea that Christianity could be both pious and revolutionary, played a key role in my becoming Catholic. I’ve often felt that she’s unassailable, uncondemnable; whether you like her politics or not, you shall know them by their fruits. Who could call the product of her life’s labor rotten?

David is, of course, also right to point out that such an expectation is untenable:

Yet, because we can’t have nice things, some Catholics make fun of Dorothy Day for her politics. They attack her as a crank, a fool, a fanatic, at best a naive and gullible utopian and anti-American. She’s their poster child for absurd liberalism. Her great faith and her heroic life count for nothing with them. (David Mills)

Dorothy probably would’ve considered herself a “crank, a fool, [and] a fanatic.” The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom has the priest intone: “Holy gifts for holy people.” Also, we sing: “One is holy. One is Lord: Jesus Christ.” Something tells me an old bag-lady (as I once heard her described by a priest who knew her) wouldn’t mind being called a crank and a fool when there is only one who is holy, who can make any of us even remotely holy.

But re-reading David’s piece, coupled with one of my own periodic bouts of melancholia got me thinking: there’s another reason she matters, to my anyway. One could say this in any number of ways: she reminds us to commit ourselves to the poor, she reminds us that all people—no matter how sinful, man, woman, child, old, or young—have a role to play in salvation. But, for me, in the moment, she matters for a very particular reason.

Dorothy Day reminds us of the truth of what conservative Canadian philosopher George Grant often liked to repeat: “It always matters what each of us does.”

It’s very easy (for me anyway) to become discouraged. I tell myself I will do the right thing. I tell myself I’ll treat others well. I tell myself I’ll be loving, kind, courageous, and joyous. But life has a way of getting in the way. I may consecrate myself to this goal in the morning only to find my eagerness transformed into disgust—disgust at others, at the world, and, inevitably, at myself for allowing myself to be disgusted. Others remain locked outside; I pervert the words of the liturgy in my own mind: “yes, one is holy. There’s little hope for the rest of us.”

But then there is Dorothy Day—cranky, wrinkled, yes, a fanatic. She tried. She matters because she tried, because she refused to give an inch, because she put herself out there day after day among the filthy, the huddled masses, and, harder, among those with whom she disagreed, with the isolated and cynical, the self-serving and self-righteous. And yet she emerged, dare I say, holy.

Previous Post

May 23, 2018

Religion, Community, Secularity (An Interview)

Next Post

June 18, 2018 On Judgment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Culture Politics Reviews Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 December 2020 November 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 April 2019 March 2019 December 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the Christian teaching about showing hospitality?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Avoid people Close your door Welcome strangers Host only friends