It Is Possible To Move Mountains
Call her a saint, a failure, a communist or a remarkable woman, no matter how you view Dorothy Day she was a radical changing the world. One of the miracles of Dorothy’s life is that she remained part of a conflict-torn community for nearly half a century. Still more remarkable, she remained a person of hope and gratitude till the end. However it was not until her eyes were opened after an illegal abortion that her destiny was discovered
Dorothy Day spent her adolescent years as a journalist and activist for Communist ideology. Although she had a spiritual side, Communist teachings won over. As a liberal activist, she picketed for labor and women’s rights (getting arrested on different occasions.) She lived a wild life of many lovers, one illegal abortion, and many nights were spent drinking and talking politics with others.
The birth of her daughter, Tamar, in 1926 sparked the beginning of Day’s life as a devout Catholic. Day eventually left her husband becoming single mom, writing for income, and growing spiritually in Catholicism for many years. Dorothy Day has been called "the most influential, interesting, and significant figure" in the history of American Catholicism. However this is an extraordinary statement for someone who did not occupy an official position in the church nor received praise throughout most of her life.
The Catholic Worker, a movement she founded in 1933, was an effort created to show that the commandment of love could be lived. She understood this challenge not simply as the form of charity but also as a political form as well. She represented a new type of political devotion, a way through solidarity with the poor struggling with injustice and peace. Dorothy wrote, "The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love." To this day Dorothy would consider herself a sinner and a reluctant saint. Perhaps it is...