Dorothy Day and The Catholic Worker Movement

by John Clem

This past 40-Day period of Lent, I was posed a question by Father Roderick and my pastor whether to give up something, or to contribute something.  I chose to give my time and talent to The Catholic Worker House here in Charlottesville, Virginia.  It was an amazing experience to contribute to a wonderful community that helps with housing, food, and prayer for the poor and needy in our local area.

Dorothy Day is the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement that began in New York City in 1933.  Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin Co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement which “is grounded in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every human person.  Today 213 Catholic Worker communities [worldwide] remain committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and foresaken. Catholic Workers continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms.”  (from Catholic Worker website)

Dorothy Day was born in 1897 and was raised in a Protestant family and converted to Catholicism in 1927.  She began the Catholic Worker newspaper and a hospitality house to work for the causes of the poor during the Great Depression in New York City.  The circulation of her newspaper started in 1933 with 2,500 copies and grew to 190,000  copies by 1938.  Dorothy wrote over 1,000 articles and 8 books during her life, including correspondence with the monk Thomas Merton, Saint Mother Teresa, and many bishops and cardinals.  There is currently a group, The Guild for Dorothy Day, working to have her canonized a Saint by the church.

The Catholic Worker House, in my community has recently been renamed Casa Alma, which means House of Soul in Spanish.  Casa Alma just celebrated its second anniversary and has accomplished a lot in its short time by now having two hospitality houses, community gardens, chickens, beehives, and we are working on having some goats for milk soon.  Laura & Steve Brown founded Casa Alma with their three children. They live and work a simple and prayerful life, and have organized over 150 volunteers from all walks of life around Central Virginia to help with this worthy cause.  If you want to learn more about the movement or Dorothy Day, you can find more information at http://www.catholicworker.org and cvillecatholicworker.blogspot.com.

Is there is Catholic Worker Movement in your community, or a similar organization that you would like to share about your experiences?