Their research, if you like, has led them unblinkingly to conclude that reality is not at all what, or where, or who we think it is.

They have penetrated the everyday atomic buzz and seen into the essential structures. They have seen, among other things, that the world is hollowed-out and illumined by beams of divine love, that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, and that sanctity—should you desire it—is merely to live in accordance with these elementary facts.

Whether or not the Catholic Church makes it official—and the cause for her canonization rumbles on—Dorothy Day was most definitely a saint. Is a saint, because her holiness has suffered no decrease in vitality since her death, at age 83, in 1980, and her example, her American example, is more challenging and provocative today than it ever was.

Day was about people, especially poor people, especially those whom she called with some wryness "the undeserving poor," and the paramount importance of serving them. For her, what the Church defines as Works of Mercy—feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, sheltering the homeless, and so on—were not pious injunctions or formulas for altruism but physical principles, as inevitable as the first law of thermodynamics.

Pare her right down to her pith, strip away all her history and biography, and what do you get? A fierce set of cheekbones and a command to love. That's the legacy of Dorothy Day, and it is endless.

Her history and biography, nevertheless, are intensely interesting, particularly as revisited by her granddaughter Kate Hennessy in Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty.

What a story. Although the chronology, and even the spiritual progress (so far as we presume to discern it) are straightforward—from bohemianism to radicalism to motherhood to Catholicism to a life, a mission, of purely focused sacrifice and activism—the images are kaleidoscopic.

There's Greenwich Village Dorothy, cub reporter, in the teens of the 20th century: "cool-mannered, tweed-wearing, drinking rye whiskey straight with no discernible effect." She's with her buddy Eugene O'Neill—the Eugene O'Neill—in a bar called the Hell Hole.

O'Neill, with "bitter mouth" and "monotonous grating voice," is reciting one of his favorite poems, Francis Thompson's "The Hound of Heaven": I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; / I fled Him, down the arches of the years. By way of response, Dorothy sings "Frankie and Johnny." Continue reading

Source and Image:

• Article by James Parker, a contributing editor at The Atlantic.

It's a reminder that with social media and modern communications there is ever greater accessibility to the "human" side of contemporary saints.

In some cases the hostility is between those responsible for a particular Cause. Here are five of the more controversial saints in the making.

Dorothy Day

The profile of Dorothy Day has been raised considerably since the Pope spoke warmly of her during his visit to America a few weeks ago. This has given hope to those who for the last 25 years have campaigned for her beatification.

Dorothy Day is a controversial figure and many claim that she should not be beatified because she had an illegitimate child and an abortion. But for those who find her an inspiration, she is an example and encouragement.

It is precisely because her story is one of transformation in the love of God that people find her so appealing. Day provides a role model and gives hope to women who have had abortions.

Her own post-abortion grief led her to have a great compassion for women in similar situations who experienced the guilt and pain of loss.

In 1930 Dorothy Day met Peter Maurin and shortly afterwards they founded the Catholic Worker Movement, which became a lifeline to thousands during the worst period of the Great Depression.

This involved the running of Houses of Hospitality, soup kitchens and caring for those made homeless.

Day's life story has been the subject of many films and books. In 1996 the film Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story was released to critical acclaim.

Dorothy Day has been given the title of Servant of God and her supporters hope that the forthcoming Year of Mercy may be a catalyst for the process to move forward towards canonisation. Continue reading

Source and Image:

• Catholic Herald, from an article by Fr Matthew Pittam, a priest of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

The 45-minute address by Pope Francis on September 24 was the first time a Roman Pontiff had addressed this body of US lawmakers.

The Pope's speech featured a powerful defence of immigration, a critique of the excesses of capitalism, an endorsement of environmental legislation, a blistering condemnation of the arms trade and a plea to abolish the death penalty.

He also defended religious liberty and the family, saying that the "very basis of marriage and the family" is being called into question.

At one point in his speech, the Pope cited four famous Americans.

"A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to 'dream' of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton."

In particular, Francis beseeched the US not to let money drive its decisions at the expense of humanity.

"Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one, the greatest common good."

After entering the chamber to thunderous applause, he said the world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since World War Two, and noted the immense challenges that the crisis presents.

"We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us once were foreigners," the Pope said.

He said the US must see migrants as persons, not as numbers.

After finishing with the words "God bless America", the Pope received a prolonged standing ovation.

House speaker John Boehner, who sat behind the pontiff, appeared to be moved to tears during the speech.

After his speech, the Pope shared a meal with homeless people.

Sources

• New York Times
• BBC
• USA Today
• NPR
• Text of Pope's address to US Congress
• Image: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Dr Lance Richey has edited a recent edition of Day's journal from the early years of the Catholic Worker Movement.

He also organises an annual Dorothy Day conference.

"I do think that it's a very providential time for Dorothy Day's message," Dr Richey said.

"Pope Francis is calling the universal Church to what Dorothy Day called the American church to be," he said.

"I mean, everything about her was, 'how are we called to be merciful to others?' and ‘how every day of my life can I carry out these works of mercy?'"

Dr Richey said there is tendency for Day to be championed by people who ignore "her deep spirituality and her utter commitment and fidelity to the Church".

This approach takes away from the whole picture of who Day really was - namely, a deeply faithful woman who "defined her life around the spiritual and corporal works of mercy".

Dr Richey said that in his studies he learned that "for Dorothy Day you can't divide Catholicism into 'kinds.'"

"There aren't 'kinds of Catholics.' You're either Catholic or you're not, and being Catholic entails social obligations and theological obligations," he said.

Dr Richey said Day's work and prayers "flowed from a very deep conversion to Christ and a deep love for the Church".

Before becoming a Catholic, Day had an abortion, which she always greatly regretted and suffered greatly over.

The late Cardinal John O'Connor of New York once said he wished every woman who had suffered an abortion would come to know Dorothy Day.

She has been recognised as a "Servant of God" - meaning that the Vatican sees no objection in her cause for canonisation progressing.

In 2012, the US bishops endorsed her canonisation.

But Day herself is once reputed to have said: ""Don't call me a saint. I don't want to be dismissed that easily."

Sources

• Catholic World Report
• Catholic Education Resource Center
• America
• Image: Zoecarnate

Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston said this at the tenth National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington on May 13.

He heads the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors set up by Pope Francis.

"People can be overwhelmed by the bad example of priests and bishops who fail to fulfill their calling," the cardinal said at the breakfast.

But he observed that while contemporary society offers the example of "superficial, self-absorbed" celebrities, the Church proposes the lives of the saints as examples of the call to holiness.

"The saints model for us the struggle to overcome human weakness and sinfulness and embrace God's will in our lives," the cardinal said.

He pointed to Servant of God Dorothy Day, who had an abortion and another child out of wedlock, as an example of how the Church "call[s] everyone to conversion".

Dorothy Day "became one of the most outstanding persons in the history of the Church in our country".

The cardinal called on Catholics to "break the habit" of presenting the Gospel in a way that "deceives people into thinking that they can be Christians and remain strangers".

The privatisation of religion and individualism is "poisonous" to the communal nature of the body of Christ, he added.

The Capuchin said Catholics must embrace Pope Francis's call to foster a "culture of encounter" and practice "the art of accompaniment" as disciples of Jesus Christ.

"Our task is to turn consumers into disciples and disciple-makers," he said.

"We need to prepare people to witness to the faith and not to send people into the witness-protection program."

Cardinal O'Malley said belief in the Gospel requires accepting the Church's teaching on the human person, which extends to immigrants living and working in the US illegally.

He called for new and more just immigration laws to replace "a system that is broken and woefully inadequate".

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Cathnewsusa

Eighty years earlier, in 1933, Maurin—short, stocky, ragged and overly didactic with his thick French accent—had been the unlikely answer to Dorothy Day's prayer for a vocation. Since her conversion to Catholicism in 1927, Day had longed for a synthesis that would reconcile her political radicalism and her newfound religious orthodoxy. For Maurin, Day was the eloquent, practical and thoroughly American companion to translate his idea for a Green Revolution into action. Maurin soon began sharing with the journalist his pithy, free verse writings, which he called "Easy Essays." Many of these were summaries of books that greatly influenced his ideas, like the 1930 Southern Agrarian tract, I'll Take My Stand.

The Green Revolution that Maurin proposed was a far cry from the movement of the same name spread by Norman Borlaug in the 1960s. Where the latter emphasized industrialism and synthetic fertilizers, Maurin's movement harked back to the medieval Irish (hence "green") monks who had saved civilization during the Dark Ages through their combination of "cult, culture and cultivation" (Maurin's catchy idiom for worship, study and agriculture). Maurin's nonviolent revolution centered primarily on creating farming communes where people could integrate the practices of growing organic food, praying together and offering hospitality to wayfarers and the poor in "Christ rooms." Not wanting to abandon the urban poor, Maurin also advocated the establishment of city houses of hospitality for the homeless (the most well-known aspect of the Catholic Worker).

Initially, though, the Green Revolution would be fomented by starting a newspaper for disseminating Maurin's theory. On May Day 1933, Maurin and Day commenced their movement by passing out 3,000 copies of The Catholic Worker. Three years later, joined by a growing number of volunteers, they announced their search for land and financial support with the audacious headline: "To Christ—To The Land!" Continue reading

Sources

• America
• Image: Sacred Run 2006

Day, who died in 1980, established with Peter Maurin the non-violent, pacifist Catholic Worker movement, which claims more than 200 autonomous communities providing social services in many countries, including New Zealand.

The endorsement by the US bishops took place during their annual general assembly in Baltimore. The bishop promoting her cause is Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the president of the bishops' conference.

Cardinal Dolan called the journey of Day's life "Augustinian", saying that "she was the first to admit it: sexual immorality, there was a religious search, there was a pregnancy out of wedlock, and an abortion. Like Saul on the way to Damascus, she was radically changed." He said she has become "a saint for our time".

"Of all the people we need to reach out to, all the people that are hard to get at, the street people, the ones who are on drugs, the ones who have had abortions, she was one of them," said Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington.

"What a tremendous opportunity to say to them you can not only be brought back into society, you can not only be brought back into the church, you can be a saint!"

Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, said: "She was a very great personal friend to me when I was a young priest. To be able to stand here and say yes to this means a great deal to me."

Source:

Catholic News Service

Image: Georgetown University