New Releases by Dorothy Day

De 1933 à sa mort en 1980, l''activiste et journaliste américaine Dorothy Day raconte son quotidien dans le journal The Catholic Worker, dont les extraits sont ici sélectionnés et traduits par Baudouin de Guillebon. Une véritable épopée à travers les quartiers défavorisés des États-Unis où elle se fait la voix de la doctrine sociale de l''Église.Au fil des pages, Dorothy Day conduit ses lecteurs aux quatre coins de l''Amérique, visitant les usines et les champs de coton, racontant le quotidien des sans-abri, décrivant de l''intérieur un pays dont l''atmosphère est proche de celle des romans de Steinbeck.Ce combat extraordinaire contre la misère, Dorothy Day le vit au milieu des plus démunis, dans ces maisons qu''avec Peter Maurin, cofondateur du mouvement des Catholic Worker, ils nomment « maisons d''hospitalité ».On y trouve un réconfort matériel, intellectuel et spirituel, mais aussi une secousse, une décharge : la lecture n''est pas paisible. Dorothy Day invite à un engagement complet - intégral - de la personne humaine, afin de créer cette société « où il serait plus facile d''être bon ». Un appel aux âmes libres, radicales, sans concession avec elles-mêmes et qui portent avec détermination la force incroyable de la charité. Dorothy Day (1897-1980) s''est convertie au catholicisme romain au début des années trente. Elle décide de créer avec le paysan français Peter Maurin, le mouvement des Catholic Worker, afin d''annoncer aux États-Unis que l''Église a une doctrine sociale. Décédée à New York le 29 novembre 1980, le pape François la cite comme l''une des quatre figures américaines majeures du XXe siècle.

Though Dorothy Day may be best known today for her religious peace activism and her role in founding the Catholic Worker movement, she lived a bohemian youth in the Lower West Side of New York City during the late 1910s and early 1920s. As an editor for radical socialist publications like The Liberator and The Masses, Day was involved in several left-wing causes as well as the Silent Sentinels’ 1917 protest for women’s suffrage in front of the White House. The Eleventh Virgin is a semi-autobiographical novel told through the eyes of June Henreddy, a young radical journalist whose fictional life closely parallels Day’s own life experiences, including her eventual disillusionment with her bohemian lifestyle. Though later derided by Day as “a very bad book,” The Eleventh Virgin captures a vibrant image of New York’s radical counterculture in the early 20th century and sheds a light on the youthful misadventures of a woman who would eventually be praised by Pope Francis for her dream of “social justice and the rights of persons” during his historic address to a joint session of Congress in 2015.

To give hope in uncertain times, this issue of Plough profiles people who have lived courageously. In unsettling times such as these, being told to "take courage" can sound like a grim joke. Yet courage is precisely what we''re in need of today: courage to stand by the truth, and courage to stand by the gospel''s claim that everyone belongs to God, because Jesus has overcome the world. To inspire such courage - and to guard against a failure of nerve or of imagination - this issue of Plough highlights people who have lived courageously. In this issue: * Chinese dissident Yu Jie looks at the challenges facing the church in China. * Cuban pastor Raúl Suárez reveals how encounters with Christians thawed Fidel Castro''s atheism. * Plough pays tribute to NYPD Det. Steven McDonald, who forgave the young shooter who paralyzed him. * Maureen Swinger tells how a young man with severe disabilities became an exceptional teacher. * Evangelical activist D. L. Mayfield finds an unsettling role model in Dorothy Day. * Comic artist Julian Peters illustrates T. S. Eliot''s poem "Little Gidding." Plus: * Insights on courage from Teresa of Avila, George Bernard Shaw, Meister Eckhart, and Mother Teresa * Original poetry by Christopher Zimmerman * Reviews of Martin Scorsese''s Silence, Mark Sundeen''s The Unsettlers, and Craig Greenfield''s Subversive Jesus * Profiles of Thomas Müntzer, Traudl Wallbrecher, and the Sisters of Life * Art and photography by Nikolay Ge, Boris Ivanovich Kopylov, Taisia Afonina, Wayne Forte, Dave Beckerman, Luca Sartoni, Wu Guanzhong, and Sadao Watanabe Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus'' message into practice and find common cause with others.

Dorothy Day’s unpretentious account of the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux sheds light on the depth of Day’s Catholic spirituality and illustrates why Thérèse’s simplicity and humility are so vital for today. Whether you are called to the active life like Day or a more hidden existence like Thérèse, you will discover that these paths have much in common and can lead you to a love that has the power to transform you in ways that are unexpected and consequential. Now back in print, this short biography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Dorothy Day expresses the surprising yet profound connection between Day—the founder of the Catholic Worker movement who was praised by Pope Francis for her passion for justice and dedication to her faith—and the beloved saint best known for her Little Way. When Day first read St. Thérèse’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul in 1928, she called it “pious pap.” At the time, Day—a social activist who had been living a bohemian lifestyle—had only recently been baptized a Catholic. Some twenty-five years later, Day’s perspective on Thérèse had so completely changed that she was inspired to write this biography. She did not find it an easy task: “Every time I sit down to write that book on the Little Flower I am blocked. . . . I am faced with the humiliating fact that I can write only about myself, a damning fact.” But she persisted, and despite numerous rejections eventually found a publisher for it in 1960. She wrote in the Preface: “In these days of fear and trembling of what man has wrought on earth in destructiveness and hate, Thérèse is the saint we need.” Written originally for nonbelievers or those unaware of Thérèse, the book reflects how Day came to appreciate Thérèse’s Little Way, not as an abstract concept, but as a spirituality that she had already been living. The Catholic Worker, which she cofounded with Peter Maurin, was dedicated to feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless. Day’s life, like Thérèse’s, was filled with all the humble, self-effacing jobs that were a part of this work. She found in Thérèse a kindred spirit, one who saw these simple hidden tasks as the way to heaven. “We want to grow in love but do not know how. Love is a science, a knowledge, and we lack it,” Day wrote. Just as Day had a conversion of heart about the Little Way, you, too, can be changed by Thérèse’s simple, yet profound spirituality.

Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was a well-known American journalist, activist, and Catholic convert whose cause for sainthood has been endorsed by the US bishops. She wrote numerous articles over a period of several decades for the prominent lay Catholic magazine Commonweal. Hold Nothing Back is gleaned from those writings. It includes reflections on her life as a single mother, her time in jail for civil disobedience, her struggles to keep the Catholic Worker movement she cofounded afloat, and her travels on crowded buses to report from the front lines about labor disputes, racial inequality, and poverty. At the heart of whatever Day wrote lies a profound and prophetic faith. Hold Nothing Back--a new, abridged edition of the previously published Dorothy Day: Writings from Commonweal--gives a glimpse of her remarkable humanity and endurance, and of the vibrant spirituality that underlay them.

In his September 2015 speech to the United States Congress, Pope Francis credited American journalist Dorothy Day (1897–1980), cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement, for her deep faith and social activism. Day’s devotion to her Catholic faith and its traditions reverberated through a series of four reflections published during Advent 1966 in The Ave Maria magazine, a Catholic weekly founded in 1865 by Rev. Edward F. Sorin, C.S.C. These reflections, available for the first time as an eBook collection with a new reader’s guide and an excerpt from “On Pilgrimage,” are as important today as they were fifty years ago. Written a year after the close of the Second Vatican Council, Dorothy Day’s Reflections during Advent address a Catholic Church in a time of tremendous upheaval. Catholic devotions fell out of practice. People sought God separate from Church life. Seminarians, novices, and vowed religious were turning away from religious life. American affluence and materialism seemed to know no bounds. It was a time in the Church not unlike the world today. “One of the most intriguing things about Dorothy Day was how she managed to harmonize a radical social vision with the most orthodox and traditional kind of Catholic piety,” writes Lawrence S. Cunningham, the John A. O’Brien professor of theology (emeritus) at the University of Notre Dame, in his introduction to the collection. “Her views on society would cause the most ‘progressive’ Democratic voter to pause, but her spiritual life was fueled by her fidelity as a Benedictine oblate to the Liturgy of the Hours, her meditations on sacred scripture, her love of the lives of the saints, and her assiduous participation in the Eucharistic liturgy.” Day begins her series of four reflections with a powerful witness to prayer, the Rosary, the Angelus, and her devotion to the Blessed Mother. Then she turns her attention to the three evangelical counsels of the Catholic Church—vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience—providing insights into a Catholic way of life that benefits all, whether lay person or religious. The reflections exhibit Day’s personal and rousing writing style with stories that fans of her 1955 landmark autobiography, The Long Loneliness, will welcome as captivating insights into the continuation of her life story. The reflections are told in her unique voice and filled with stories about Day’s childhood, conversion to Catholicism, devotional life, Catholic Worker communities, work with Peter Maurin, and much more. With each word, you will feel her dedication to the compassionate defense of the dignity of every human person, especially the poor and outcast of society. This work is a must-read for every Advent season, a timeless reminder of Day’s witness to faith that echoes Pope Francis’s words in his historic address to Congress: “Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.”

"A great many of these notes were not written for publication, but for my own self in moments of trouble and in moments of peace and joy." Dorothy Day''s reflections-written on the fly over five hectic years-reveal not only the beginnings of the Catholic Worker Movement, but the mind of a heroic woman as she responds to the demands of faith. Now back in print after seventy-five years, House of Hospitality is packed with stories of sacrifice and kindness, strikes and protests, hunger and soup lines, the rough reality of tenement life, and the foul odor of poverty. "I do penance through my nose continually," Dorothy wrote. And yet, as she said, "Our lives are made up of little miracles day by day." Dorothy Day and her fellow workers were "poor for the poor," as Pope Francis has exhorted, and the early years of this Gospel-driven moment have much to teach us about how we can live, today, with a heart for others. "Love and ever more love," Dorothy said, "is the only solution to every problem that comes up."

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a school-based violence prevention program, Project SAFE, which was designed to decrease beliefs supporting the use of aggression in response to conflict, as measured by decreases in a Beliefs Supporting Aggression (BSA) scale and an Attitudes Toward Conflict (ATC) scale. This study further examined how changes in beliefs supporting aggression impacted changes in prosocial behavior, and the impact of gender on all of these relationships. Data used for this project included 219 students in 2nd through 6th grades. Students involved in this program came from primarily low-income neighborhoods, and the average rate of free/reduced lunches provided at these schools was 88.9% (67.0% - 99.4). Results suggested that this program was effective in decreasing beliefs supporting aggression, and also that decreased beliefs supporting aggression, measured by the BSA scale, resulted in increased prosocial behavior. However, initial ATC scores predicted overall changes in behavior, with lower ATC scores predicting fewer changes in behavior. These conflicting results are further examined in the discussion. Boys were consistently found to have higher beliefs supporting aggression and lower prosocial behavior than boys at all levels of analysis, but there was no differential impact of the program based on gender.

“The publication of the letters of Dorothy Day is a significant event in the history of Christian spirituality.” —Jim Martin, SJ, author of My Life with the Saints Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement, has been called the most significant, interesting, and influential person in the history of American Catholicism. Now the publication of her letters, previously sealed for 25 years after her death and meticulously selected by Robert Ellsberg, reveals an extraordinary look at her daily struggles, her hopes, and her unwavering faith. This volume, which extends from the early 1920s until the time of her death in 1980, offers a fascinating chronicle of her response to the vast changes in America, the Church, and the wider world. Set against the backdrop of the Depression, World War II, the Cold War, Vatican II, Vietnam, and the protests of the 1960s and ’70s, she corresponded with a wide range of friends, colleagues, family members, and well-known figures such as Thomas Merton, Daniel Berrigan, César Chávez, Allen Ginsberg, Katherine Anne Porter, and Francis Cardinal Spellman, shedding light on the deepest yearnings of her heart. At the same time, the first publication of her early love letters to Forster Batterham highlight her humanity and poignantly dramatize the sacrifices that underlay her vocation. “These letters are life-, work-, and faith-affirming.” —National Catholic Reporter

For almost fifty years, through her tireless service to the poor and her courageous witness for peace, Dorothy Day offered an example of the gospel in action. Now the publication of her diaries, previously sealed for twenty-five years after her death, offers a uniquely intimate portrait of her struggles and concerns. Beginning in 1934 and ending in 1980, these diaries reflect her response to the vast changes in America, the Church, and the wider world. Day experienced most of the great social movements of her time but, as these diaries reveal, even while she labored for a transformed world, she simultaneously remained grounded in everyday human life: the demands of her extended Catholic worker family; her struggles to be more patient and charitable; the discipline of prayer and worship that structured her days; her efforts to find God in all the tasks and encounters of daily life. A story of faithful striving for holiness and the radical transformation of the world, Day’s life challenges readers to imagine what it would be like to live as if the gospels were true.

Dorothy Day was co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and one of the most challenging and inspiring figures of recent history.In her lifelong option for the poor and her unstinting devotion to active nonviolence, Day fashioned a new face for the gospel in our time. In 2000 the Vatican recognized her cause for canonization, and she was officially termed ‘Servant of God.’ Dorothy Day: Selected Writings is recognized as the essential and authoritative guide to her life and work. The writings collected here reflect her spirit: meditative, ironical, combative, filled with love for the Catholic Worker family, and suffused with her special sense of the ‘holy sublimity of the everyday''.

Dorothy Day provides the most complete intimate portrait of the man she called "an Apostle to the world." Maurin emerges as a true saint and prophet who offers an instructive and healing challenge for our time.

Saints and spiritual writers have much to tell us about living the Christian life. The Wisdom series condenses the great spiritual truths penned by holy men and women and presents them in a fresh and exciting way. These books explore writings as ancient as the church Fathers and as modern as Dorothy Day and Blessed Pope John XXIII.

On Pilgrimage gathers diary entries written by Dorothy Day in 1948 that intimately reveal both Day''s spiritual life and the personal ideals that guided her tenacious pursuit of social justice.

"Marking the centenary of Dorothy Day''s birth in 1897, this new edition of Loaves and Fishes makes a modern religious classic available to a new generation. A companion to her autobiography, The Long Loneliness, this is Day''s frank and compelling account of thirty years as leader of the Catholic Worker Movement and editor of its newspaper." "Blending a journalist''s perceptions with emotional commitment and warm humor, she shares experiences amid the abandoned and impoverished, the hopeful and idealistic. In the process, she brings to life a host of remarkable personalities, and reveals a life of faith in action." "A unique document of American social history, Loaves and Fishes offers powerful testimony to the unswerving faith of a woman dedicated to improving the lot of all people, and creating a viable alternative to the growing ills of a chaotic world."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A compelling autobiographical testament to the spiritual pilgrimage of a woman who, in her own words, dedicated herself "to bring[ing] about the kind of society where it is easier to be good.''''

When she died in 1980, Dorothy Day was called "the most significant, interesting and influential person in the history of American Catholicism" (Commonweal), and "a non-violent social radical of luminous personality" (The New York Times). As co-founder in 1933 (with the French peasant philosopher Peter Maurin) of the Catholic Worker movement, and for almost fifty years editor and publisher of its newspaper, she applied the Gospels to a sweeping radical critique of our economic, social, and political system, and addressed the most urgent issues of our time: poverty, labor, justice, civil liberties, and disarmament. She saw the movement as an affirmation of life and sanity, and a way to "bring about the kind of society where it is easier to be good." The present volume is a selection of Dorothy Day''s published work, spanning a period of over fifty years. Although the great majority of the pieces have been reprinted from The Catholic Worker, a number of other magazine articles are included, as well as selections from all her books. - Publisher.

Fund-raising letter for The Catholic worker.