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Dorothy Day the mother of the Catholic Worker movement, is considered a hero by many and a radical but just as many, including her admirers. And now, she may be made a saint. Last month, New York's Timothy Cardinal Dolan called Dorothy Day a saint for our time at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the bishops voted unanimously to advance the campaign for her to be canonized.

And now, she may be made a saint.

No question. Cardinal Dolan is a socialist.

As evidenced by his willingness to dine with the sinner, Barack Obama.

...the evil resulting from the leftist hijacking of Dorothy Day's work.

You'll have to explain that statement.

It has been discussed much here on COL in general and at times specifically how the leftists have hijacked Catholic Social Justice.

Obama in fact started his community organizing for evil efforts through the subversion and use of Catholic Social Justice ministries in Chicago.

My point is that although leftists may corrupt and or fool some of the people and that which they do some of the time that the Church remains true.

So, you are saying that Dorothy Day was not a leftist?

"Certainly we disagree with the Communist Party, as we disagree with other political parties who are trying to maintain the American way of life."

Daniel,

Naïve? Hardly.



That remark alone is evidence of a sharp mind and a lively wit.

Even Dorothy Day's most fervent detractors wouldn't call her naïve. Do you really find it so difficult to stomach that someone whose politics you so despise might be about to be canonised? So much so that you have to pretend to yourself that her political positions were other than as they so clearly were?

Apparently you like her flawed politics and her wit -neither lead to Sainthood...

I think you try hard to associate flawed politics with Sainthood and wish me to as well drink the koolaid.

Daniel,



Have you actually read this thread? (Specifically, my first post in it?)

Daniel,

You don't quite get it. For me, as for most Australian Catholics, that a socialist might be canonised is not problematic. For you, as for many American Catholics, it is seriously problematic. That, presumably, is why there are so many who are of the view that she should not be canonised. You have anticipated the problem by denying (wrongly) that she was a real socialist and by asserting (wrongly) that she was unaware of the implications of her political beliefs.

You might care to read some her writings (I take it you've not done so as yet).

(BTW, your argument might be a good one were she to have lived and died in the 1920s. She died in 1980.)

(BTW, your argument might be a good one were she to have lived and died in the 1920s. She died in 1980.)

“It is an opportunity for him to demonstrate that conservative Catholics are not uncaring, without accepting liberal principles in how you service the poor,” said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League, a conservative antidefamation organization. “She was not, like many liberal Catholics today, a welfare state enthusiast.”

No question. Cardinal Dolan is a socialist.

As evidenced by his willingness to dine with the sinner, Barack Obama.

Hehe... and you are no doubt a trouble maker.

Daniel,

No true Scotsman...

The article makes much of Dorothy’s radicalism, and surely she was radical. But, it does not see how Dorothy’s radicalism after her baptism was not ideological any longer because it was not rooted in an idea. It was rooted in an event, the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It was rooted in the person of Jesus whom Dorothy worshipped each morning at Mass and throughout the day in the poor with whom she came into contact. It was rooted in the community of faith, the Church, where we encounter the risen Lord still. Dorothy was not a conformist, she was a “radical,” precisely because she so obviously, so tenaciously and so heroically conformed herself to Christ.

Everyone wants a piece of Dorothy. Thus it has ever been with the saints – literally. We want their relics near us, we venerate those relics, we want to be close to them. Since the issue of Dorothy’s canonization caught the nation’s attention when Cardinal Dolan consulted with his brother bishops in Baltimore last month, both the Catholic Left and the Catholic Right claim her as one of their own.

A few thoughts for the Catholic Left to consider. Do you try and conform the Church it us, to our wishes and wants, or do you try and conform yourselves to Christ and the Church? Do you experience authority within the Church as liberating, which is exactly how Dorothy experienced it? Do you hold on to your solid, well-informed, liberal opinions more closely than the tradition of the Church? Do you reduce the faith to good works?

A few thoughts for the Catholic Right to consider. Do you recognize how counter-cultural Dorothy was? Do you let yourselves see what she saw, that one of the things that holds us back in our commitment to faith is this “dirty, rotten system”? Do you equate the faith with moral probity and conventional values? Do you look at sinners and see someone to dismiss or person with a future, even with the potential for sanctity in their future? Do you love the poor and make that your criterion for evaluating your own economic decisions and that of your society?

Dorothy Day was certainly a socialist.

... socialism is never acceptable for Catholics.