Dorothy Day: Radical

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StudentMI

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https://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/articles/150.html

https://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/articles/237.html

I thought I’d post these two articles to illustrate something. More and more I’m seeing Dorothy Day being cited as an inspiration by groups across the ideological spectrum. Hey that’s great, but am I the only one who thinks Day wouldn’t agree with all of them? I’m not saying she’d scream ‘statist!’ in their face but she was an anarchist and opposed the state, as did Peter Maurin.

Maurin, on his reading list, listed Our Enemy, the State by Albert Jay Nock. He cited Kropotkin, as did Day. Both were influenced by Proudhon, whose mutualism comes close to the Catholic Worker vision of society.

Just thought I’d share.
 
I don’t know much about her, but in the summary of her Wikipedia page she’s stated to be an anarchist, so I imagine she’d have some significant disagreements with a lot of ideological groups.
 
People often claim inspiration from those they don’t read. It leads to stuff like that
 
StudentMI said:
https://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/articles/150.html

Catholic Worker Movement

I thought I’d post these two articles to illustrate something. More and more I’m seeing Dorothy Day being cited as an inspiration by groups across the ideological spectrum. Hey that’s great, but am I the only one who thinks Day wouldn’t agree with all of them? I’m not saying she’d scream ‘statist!’ in their face but she was an anarchist and opposed the state, as did Peter Maurin.

Maurin, on his reading list, listed Our Enemy, the State by Albert Jay Nock. He cited Kropotkin, as did Day. Both were influenced by Proudhon, whose mutualism comes close to the Catholic Worker vision of society.

Just thought I’d share.
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As long as she did not contradict or challenge the social teachings (or any other teachings) of the Church, the servant of God Dorothy was at liberty to embrace any social system she saw fit.

I would just want to ask her “please describe briefly what your ideal social system would look like, how it would conform to the demands of justice, how it would provide for the common welfare, and how it would defend itself from enemies both foreign and domestic”.
 
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That’s certainly a topic that has to be broached. And asking those questions would be interesting.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
As long as she did not contradict or challenge the social teachings (or any other teachings) of the Church, the servant of God Dorothy was at liberty to embrace any social system she saw fit.
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Well, I answer without kwowing the exact position of Dorothy Day.

But I would just notice that anarchism, as a doctrine it itself cannot be compatible with the social teaching. Anarchism is ( and at its origins, violently) against the current order of society. So against the State, but also against the Church. It is a logical consequence.
 
Anicette said:
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HomeschoolDad:
As long as she did not contradict or challenge the social teachings (or any other teachings) of the Church, the servant of God Dorothy was at liberty to embrace any social system she saw fit.
Click to expand...
Well, I answer without kwowing the exact position of Dorothy Day.

But I would just notice that anarchism, as a doctrine it itself cannot be compatible with the social teaching. Anarchism is ( and at its origins, violently) against the current order of society. So against the State, but also against the Church. It is a logical consequence.
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Please note the way I nuanced this:

…describe briefly what your ideal social system would look like:
  • how it would conform to the demands of justice
  • how it would provide for the common welfare
  • how it would defend itself from enemies both foreign and domestic
If it could not conform to Church teaching on the first two things (and, arguably, the third), then it would have to be dismissed out of hand.
 
I prefer the term used by the St.John Paul - Servant of God. The Catholic Church is catholic, that is universal. Politically, that leaves a very broad spectrum. No doubt she was more on the progressive side, but will one day likely be canonized.
 
Meriting heaven does not depend on one’s political ideology or social thought, but on love. Day was well versed in some of the popular social trends of her day, including socialism, but came to subject such things to the will of God once she entered the Catholic Church. Above all she was known for outstanding charity toward the poor and a profound understanding that the face of God was the face of the homeless, the poor, the rejected. She was a person of deep and long prayer. I have no doubt that she will be canonized in God’s time.
 
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