The following comes from a May 20 Catholic News Agency article:
Last week, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles told scholars at the Dorothy Day Conference at St. Francis University that the social activist was not converted by ideology, but by love.
“It was not the teachings of the Church that convinced her to leave the past behind and change her life. She was changed by Love, changed by the over-powering awareness of the reality of God’s love and mercy,” the archbishop said during his May 14 keynote address at the Dorothy Day Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Archbishop Gomez said he admires the social activist for the example of holiness that she has left for today’s Catholics.
As a young woman in the early 20th century, Day embraced what she and many others in her generation believed would bring happiness: a life that included abortion, communism and “free love.”
“Dorothy and many others thought they had found the ‘answers’ they were looking for in the ‘progressive’ vision of a society liberated from Christian morality and the capitalist economy,” Archbishop Gomez said, but what followed was a period of great pain and suffering in her life, including the abortion of her child.
“As she described it, the beauty of the created world convinced her that there must be a Creator. The joy of human love helped her to realize the beauty of divine love,” he explained. “She came to see that her life – and all our lives – are a search for love, a search for a love that is Supreme, for God.”
While it remains to be seen whether the Church will declare Day a saint – she is currently recognized as a Servant of God – Archbishop Gomez said that her life makes him want to be a saint.
“And I know a lot of people feel the same way – including some of you, probably,” he said.
Archbishop Gomez reflected that the great Catholic social activist has left a legacy that illustrated how to live in and evangelize a culture that has rejected God. Day believed that the surest way to do this “was to raise up a new generation of saints.”
While not everyone is called to a radical life among the poor like Day, we are all called “to take personal responsibility” in caring for the poor and to live out something she called “heroic charity,” the archbishop said.
If it was not the teaching of the Church (Sacred Scripture, etc) that taught Day about GOD’s LOVE & MERCY – where did she learn it from ?
What Saints did Day raise up ?
“Love” of what, Archbishop? Every saint is moved by “love of Christ” or they would not be saints.
But to say that this “love” does not include a knowledge of, and devotion to, Traditional Catholic teachings is ignorant, and masking a darker purpose.
Thank you St. Christopher. “Love of what?” Love of La Raza!
Wake up Church Militant! You will know them by their fruits and also by their inconsistencies. Archbishop Gomez selectively LOVES and supports La Raza’s ideologies. Shortly after his (Archbishop Gomez’s) arrival in L.A., my friend spoke with Archbishop Gomez and my friend respectfully stated that there were many concerns over this close affiliation. My friend asked Archbishop Gomez why he was so closely associated with the Marxist group known as La Raza. Archbishop Gomez quickly responded, ” Oh I do not think that La Raza is a Marxist group. My friend even said to the Archbishop, ” Please your Excellency, do some research and check historical facts. This is no different than if Cardinal George had very close ties with the inner workings of the Klu Klux Klan.” My friend said that Archbishop Gomez’s face then turned very red. He gave no response to that statement, smiled and walked away.
Wake up sleeping sheep/ostriches and smell the brewing of this overpowering strong ideological cup of coffee!
“Love of What?” St. Christopher wisely asks. It appears that there is a greater love of the crippling ideologies of Marxists groups such as La Raza.
https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=153
“Before long, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights began to hold a series of influential hearings on the status of Mexican Americans and, later, other Latino groups residing in the United States. In addition, the Ford Foundation initiated a second (though less academic) investigation of the same subject. To carry out that study, Ford hired three Mexican Americans—Dr. Julian Samora (a community activist who helped pioneer the field of Latino Studies; Dr. Ernesto Galarza (a professor who was widely considered “the dean of Chicano activism”); and Herman Gallegos.
It is very well documented thatDorothy Day was a Communist. Archbishop Gomez is sadly misguided and seems to use his valuable time and energy outside his diocese being the spokesman for a person who was brainwashed to infiltrate the Church to promote a Communist Marxist ideology under the disguise of “helping the poor”.
CCC: ” 1885 The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals and societies. It tends toward the establishment of true international order.”
And lets not forget: “Thou shall not steal”. “Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s goods”. – GOD’s Commandments.
Communism, Marxism, Socialism, and LIBERATION THEOLOGY all violate Catholic Church teaching.
Here is the documentation dorothydayworker.blogspot.com
I have always wondered, if Dorothy Day really did leave her past behind. I also read somewhere, that she may have been a lesbian or bisexual– was this true? And did she then take vows of celibacy, after converting to the Catholic Faith?? Is her Catholic Worker Movement still going, and is it a truly faithful Catholic organization?? Can we trust it?? Well– it is best to read her true story, from a reliable source, to try to understand why she has a Sainthood case, in the Vatican! Any miracles? Let’s hear all about it!! Then, maybe we can trust her Sainthood case!
I just did some reading about Dorothy Day. Yes, after her conversion, she was in sympathy (against the Church!) with many Communist leaders and movements– such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro, thinking that these people were trying to do good. As a pacifist, she also went to jail a lot! Anyway, she was quite a political activist, seeking to help the poor, Communist-style, though she was Catholic. She also felt powerless to correct all the SCANDALOUS immorality of all the hippies (with dope and promiscuity!), who came to live at her Catholic Worker houses!! She was not like the Salvation Army– which preaches Christ’s Gospel, while giving out assistance, with a definite Christian religious focus! Well– I prefer the Salvation Army’s viewpoint, to Dorothy Day’s!!
Good for you, Linda Marie. I knew the D.D. issue would become prominent under the Francis Church, only this time she’ll probably be made a saint as Pope Paul VI was..by the flick of a pen. Well, it certainly gives the rest of us hope…if she can be made a saint, anyone can. Being made a saint these days is not unlike receiving the Nobel prize. I remember a photo of a gas station sign when obama got his…”Free Nobel prize with fill-up and oil-change”.
Dana, you are so funny! Well– perhaps I just have the wrong idea of a saint! Maybe I am expecting too much! Well— even the “smaller” saints, can do good, in Heaven, with healings for those on earth, who suffer!! Perhaps at death, a soul like Dorothy Day, would simply relinquish all strange misconceptions and erroneous ideas, when seeing God and Christ, face to Face! Maybe that also happenned to Pope St. John Paul II– who did some really questionable things, as Pope! I am still so sorry for the children of the evil clergy sex abuse scandals, during his pontificate! Why didn’t he go after these horrible criminals of the clergy– and PUNISH them??
Well, well, well! I came across this very telling little article on PewSitter…https://ncronline.org/news/people/putting-halo-dorothy-day-shows-her-no-love
It would seem Ms Day is too good to be canonized…that such a demeaning act by a corrupt Church is an insult and the money would be better spent on the poor. What would poor Dot and her comrades do if there were no poor, alas! ? I have to agree the money would be much better spent on missions and healing the poor of spirit. No one seems to care about them anymore. If you’re poor and homeless you’re automatically a saint and worthy of worship. Sorry, but I’ve known too many people who are crafty, lazy and shiftless who have worked the system for all its worth and are the…
…proverbial grasshoppers living on the backs of ants. I know many very poor people who don’t know they’re poor and you won’t find them begging or looting. The poor of Africa and India are truly poor, but we do not have truly poor people in this country. We do probably have the most poor in spirit, however, and as I said, they’re pretty much passed over these days. Maybe you think it’s okay to defecate on church steps and live like beasts but I do not. This false compassion is destroying civilization!
Actually it was not a communist style approach to caring for the poor; Day advocated personalism in assisting and living in community with our poorer sisters and brothers. She believed that small independent Catholic communities were best positioned and motivated to help, not big government. Some of Christianity’s most basic tenets include greeting the stranger, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. These teachings in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount were central to Dorothy Day’s work when she co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement.
God’s Commandments are part of His love.
I am thoroughly confused by this woman’s life and what the facts actually are. I had been under the impression that she had protested our involvement in WW II, had repeatedly defended the Soviets from any culpability in regard to the gulags, and was essentially the mother of the SJW wing of the church. According to an article that I recently read in Crisis (https://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/the-dorothy-day-few-of-us-know), this may be a distortion. Reading about her life reminds me of reading what the Pope’s positions are according to the secular media. While it seems to me that many of her actions were naive at best and encouraged an apathy to evil, I’m not knowledgable enough about her to properly sort fact from fiction.
I really think you all need to read her life story as I have. I am a conservative catholic, but my admiration for her is great. She was in love with Christ and a faithful daughter of the Church. As a matter of fact, I view her pacifism during WWII as a badge of honor. She was true to God and her understanding of man’s obligation to man. She was completely unsuccessful in her endeaveors, but she was “not called to be successful, but to be faithful”. Dorothy Day pray for us.
CCC: ” 2309 The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration.
The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:
– the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
– all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
– there must be serious prospects of success;
– the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the “just war” doctrine. ”
The best Catholic Worker house in the country is Casa Juan Diego. And their b-monthly newspaper is the best Catholic publication in the United States. They are Catholics, not conservatives or liberals. The interview with the founders linked from the top of their website
https://cjd.org/
is first-rate.
This article
https://cjd.org/2013/07/05/pope-wants-a-church-of-the-poor-and-for-the-poor-but-a-well-known-catholic-writer-rejects-saint-francis-of-assisi/
is one of the best they have published.
To Kirk Kramer– Are there some miracles attributed to Dorothy Day? Any relics? I may not like some of her ideas, but anyway– healing relics, religious faith, and a few miracles– are desperately needed, by the poor, homeless, political refugees, suffering immigrants, and many others! (She could be their Saint!) I did not completely agree with the recent canonization of our Holy Father, St. John Paul II, as his earthly pontificate had some terrible errors!! However, he had a gift for healing miracles! I gave out copies of his book, “Miracles of John Paul II,” by Pawet Zuchniewicz, especially to people I knew, who were suffering terrible illnesses or accidents, in the hopes that prayers to the Pope, may be of help! This was before he was canonized.
Let’s look at the scoreboard
conversions: 1
left-the-Church: millions
I gained a whole new respect for the Servant of God Dorthy Day after reading something she wrote in “The Long Loneliness, Part I: Searching, The Generations Before” (1952).
“Tradition! How rich a word that is. To a thinking child it means a great deal. Children all love to hear stories of when their parents were young, and of their parents before them. It gives the child a sense of continuity…
“Tradition! We scarcely know the word any more. We are afraid to be either proud of our ancestors or ashamed of them. We scorn nobility in name and in fact. We cling to a bourgeois mediocrity which would make it appear we are all Americans, made in the image and likeness of George Washington, all of a pattern, all prospering if we are good, and going down in the world if we are bad.
Interesting Geoffrey. Not fond of D Day to be honest. She was from before V2 and yet her mentality was sure sign of how much correction she needed and what shaped many in her like views, that lead the church today. We should focus on Archbishop Fulton Sheen instead. Not Dorothy Day but we do pray for her soul, may she rest in peace.
Christ’s church is alive and well. We trust in Him.
I don’t think anyone is converted by ideology. To be a Catholic means to be in a loving relationship with God. While this is manifested through love of neighbor and participation in the sacraments and a learning and embracing of the truths taught by the church, it’s still, at heart, a loving relationship.
If you convert to Catholicism because of a love of ideology, you have set up a false god in place of the real one. This is not to say ideology isn’t important – but it should not be deified.
Good comments
The Church has always taught that the practicing Catholic embraces both Faith and Reason. Many are led to adore Christ, after reading the accounts of His life in the Gospels, and come to believe in Him, in His miracles, in the Immaculate Conception of His Blessed Mother, in His Divine Virgin Birth foretold by the Archangel Gabriel, as well as His Mission to die on a Cross for the remission of our sins– and His subsequent Resurrection!! Plus– all the other points of the Catholic Faith. The gift of Faith requires the grace of God– and it takes grace also, to believe in the Real Presence of Christ, in Holy Communion!! But of course, after reception of the gift of Faith, and belief in Christ’s teachings– it is a very great gift, to know and to love God!!
“Dorothy and many others thought they had found the ‘answers’ they were looking for in the ‘progressive’ vision of a society liberated from Christian morality and the capitalist economy,”
Sounds like a description of many of the US Bishops including Gomez.
Sounds like roots coming from times way before my time. Adults sure made a mess of things. Praise God we have the faithful correcting those things. We have a beautiful faith, Christ’s church is alive and well through His promises. At Pentecost we understand this. Men have sinned and continue but Christ’s truth reign.
CCC: ” 1885 The principle of Subsidiarity is OPPOSED to all forms of COLLECTIVISM.
It sets limits for state intervention.
It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals and societies. It tends toward the establishment of true international order. ”
CCC: ” 2411 Contracts are subject to commutative justice which regulates exchanges between persons and between institutions in accordance with a strict respect for their rights.
Commutative justice obliges strictly;
it requires safeguarding property rights,
paying debts,
and fulfilling obligations freely contracted.
Without commutative justice, no other form of justice is possible.
Has anyone else noticed that –
When Bishops do NOT want to TEACH the Faith completely and accurately including but not limited to the intrinsic evils of:
Abortion, Contraception, Homosexual Acts (including Homosexual Marriage), Euthanasia, Embryonic Stem Cell research, Adultery, Fornication, etc.,
– – – – – – it appears that they start making up their own religion –
like who should be a saint, and support for ILLEGAL immigration,
and against the death penalty, and redistribution of wealth – which are NOT accurate teachings of the Church.
May we live our lives more fully like Christ, as Dorothy Day did here in America. May we not pass judgement on our sisters and brothers, but instead serve them and love them. This too God commands.
Loving our Neighbors as ourselves as commanded by Jesus, does not mean adopting Communism or Marxism or Liberation Theology.
Jesus said the poor will always be among us.
Jesus did NOT say that should ignore the poor, not help the poor, or be care less about the poor.
Pete, could you please share with us how many of the poor and downtrodden became baptized, Catholic or even Christian through DD’s efforts? Could you please tell us how DD differs from Jane Addams of Hull House, Florence Nightengale or Julia Ward Howe…women who gave all they had for the unfortunate? No one can deny that DD was completely about doing good works, but what were the fruits? I’m sincerely interested in your answer. Were many souls saved?
I do not know how many souls were saved, as none of us on earth do. Ms Day co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement, which continues to this day. I am familiar with a few Catholic Worker houses, and I’m aware lives have been changed by them. And, yes, we are not saved by faith alone. Works matter greatly. And the greatest commandment is to love thy neighbor.