Dorothy Day (1897-1980)
     
     Born in Brooklyn, New York on November 8th, 1897 Dorthy Day was a very influential

person in the catholic economic lifestyle. Her father, John Day was out of work when she was

little, which gave her empathy for other then, and later on in life because she also knows what

its like to be there. When she moved to Chicago her life turned for the better, Her father became

sports editor of a major Chicago newspaper. In 1914 she recieved a scholarship for the

university of Illinois in Urbana. She wasent very social in school, keeping mostly to herself.

Two years later she dropped out to move to new yourk and become a newspaper reporter.

In 1917 she was arrested for protesting womens exclusion from the electorate outside the

capitol and was thrown into prison only to be released soon after. This was first of many

arrests in Dorothys future.

     As a child Dorothy went to an Episcopical Church from time to time. She also

attended St.Josephs in New York sometimes, but definatley not regularly.She was really

interested in the catholic church and what it had to offer but she really didnt know much

about it. She had a few catholic friends who she hung out with and stuff during college

and afterwards.      

     When she had a kid named Tamar, she decided to make her a catholic. She had

Tamar baptised and then she herself was baptised, deciding to devote her life to good things.

She met Peter Maurin wheo was twenty years older and was an experienced forrmer catholic

brother. They talked and listened, and Peter said Dorothy should start a paper to publish all

her ideas and stuff. So she took his advice and went and bought a printing press and set it up

in her kitchen. She charged a penny for a copy and called it The Catholic Worker. Everyone

loved it, and after a while homeles people started to show up at the door. Because of the writings

in the paper the wanted to stay with Dorothy and Peter and of course they let them stay. So

many people came to stay they opened up these houses all around the country to provide

hospitality to the homeless. They called them Catholic Worker Houses.

     Today, more than one hundred Catholic worker houses exsist and the newspaper still

lives on. It is still a strong catholic voice for social justice and peace. No other newspaper

probably has had so many people arrested and put into jail. Dorothy Day died on November

29th, 1980, many see her as a saint. "If I achieved anything in my life it is because I

have not been embarrassed to talk about God." -Dorothy Day.


bibliography- www.catholicworker.com
www.paulist.org
www.newadvent.com
www.catholic.org