Book Description

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.'' ... Read more

Reviews (10)

The Only Solution is Love
Dorothy Day is an absolutely amazing woman, and should be a true inspiration for all Catholics concerned with social justice and care of the poor. The Long Loneliness is Day's autobiography. It details her life, from her childhood until her old age. The book describes how Day's growing concern for the poor leads to a growing inspiration in Catholicism, and how the mysteries of the church deepen her love for other people in her life. Her growing faith is, as to be expected, tinged with doubt, and through this doubt the reader can truly experience Day's humanity. Different experiences, such as her pregnancy, are developed so that readers can begin to see how different moments throughout her life make a profound impact on Day's life and work. In addition to the life of Day herself, this book provides an excellent reference in terms of the beginning points of the Catholic Worker movement. The Catholic Worker has developed houses of hospitality in various cities throughout the United States (135 today), which focus on works of mercy for anyone who needs assistance. The Long Loneliness provides an overview of the history of this movement, from its beginnings as a radical Catholic newspaper, to the founding of the early Houses of Hospitality, to attempts at farming which ultimately failed. Day's autobiography paints a life of Christian love, and is an outstanding work for anyone with a concern for developing a life filled with the richness of service to others.

A Worthy Read
More than a story of the life of a great and determined woman, this book is really the story of the Catholic Worker movement. The purpose of Ms. Day's life, and the Catholic Worker movement, was to make the kind of society in which it is easier for people to be good.

To that end, Ms. Day wrote of her life. I've often heard this book compared to Merton's Seven Storey Mountain. However, it does not show the level of introspection that one finds with Thomas Merton. This autobiography does touch on the personal level when Ms. Day speaks of her faith, her love of God and what that means to her. These portions of the book are worth reading and re-reading.

Unfortunately, this is only about one quarter of the book. The remainder regards the Catholic Worker movement and Ms. Day's journey through communism, pacifism etc. In short, the book is more about utopia than it is about Ms. Day.

Nonetheless, it is far more than a drab read about the socio-economic condition of man in the 20th century. I'm very glad that I've read this book, and I will read it again no doubt.

If you have an interest in putting your faith into action, this book will inspire you. It should inspire, and for the most part it does. For that reason I recommend it.

A Classic Conversion Story
Catholic faith fascinates people. How did her spiritual life develop, and how did it influence the remainder of her life? Many wonderful authors, including but not limited to people such as William Miller, Robert Coles, and most recently Paul Elie, have written extensively about Dorothy Day and help us understand this amazing and complex woman, but nothing is more rewarding than reading the writings of Day herself.

THE LONG LONELINESS is a classic spiritual tome and is often referred to as Day's spiritual autobiography. In many ways it is similar to Thomas Merton's SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN, and it is easily a close second in popularity with many Catholics. Though Day's writing style is much drier than Merton's writing and her story is not quite as spellbinding as the artist and aspiring writer turned monk, the reader can sense God working powerfully in Day's life. If the book were published today, it would probably be categorized as a memoir, rather than an autobiography since day does not as much tell her story as reflect on how God called her to a life of faith.

The book is a "must read" for anyone who loves and admires Dorothy Day. It is also a book that will interest people interested in religious social activism. Yet the book may speak most powerfully to those who are on a spiritual quest themselves, either knowingly or unknowingly.

she should've stuck to being a social activist
I was required to read this book for school this summer and it was by far the worst book I have read in my life. Its only a 280 page book, but her style of writing makes it seem as if it was about a thousand. She fills the book with useless information (i.e. she writes an in depth account of a cover of a book her brother brought home one day and then wonders what it was about. That was completely pointless and failed to advance the plot at all.) Instead of sticking to the core story, which might have been interesting she rambles off about random occurences constantly.

A model
Dorothy Dayƒ­s life story is one that I hope will inspire and motivate many Christians -- many more than it already has. A full-on Bohemian in her twenties, she wrote for Socialist papers, joined strikes and picket lines, and spent her share of time in jail for protests. She was an activistƒ­s activist.
And then she met Jesus. Actually the Call of the Spirit had been upon her, or inside her, since early childhood, but it wasnƒ­t until the birth of her child that she finally acknowledged fully and became a member of the Catholic church.
I can easily identify with her problems and issues with the church -- it always seems to be on the side of the Established, the Rich and Powerful, caring not and giving not to the poor and needy, the oppressed and voiceless. Dorothy found, as too few of us have, that God heart cries out for the poor, Jesus identified himself with the oppressed and voiceless, and, as James said, true religion that God honors is looking after the widowed and the orphans in their distress.
And so, with the help, mentorship and inspiration of her friend Peter Maurin, Dorothy continued her activist ways, in the name of Christ. She started the Catholic Worker newspaper, which championed the causes of the poor and working-class. She and her friends started hospitality houses, taking in and feeding any who needed it.
Like Mother Teresaƒ­s, Dorothy Dayƒ­s story is really very simple -- she saw what there was to do, she took her Masterƒ­s words to heart, and she started doing it. Without advanced programs, grants, visioning sessions, without much of a plan at all really, she just started doing it. And she has changed the world in important ways, giving glory to God all along the way. She is a hero of the faith to me, and I hope that God will use me as He chose to use her.

Dorothy Day trained herself as a journalist, a writer, and made her living as such all of her life. This training is evident in her writing -- the book is compact, imagistic, and quick to read. The first half is fairly chronological, as she relates her life up until the point of her conversion and move to New York. After that -- basically after she meets Peter -- it becomes more topical, and the timeline more of a blur. Which was probably true of her life, so much happening and unfolding that itƒ­s hard to tell what started when and where the endings are, if there are any.

I enjoyed this book, and I learned from it -- most notably that the work of activism, of giving voice to the voiceless, is long and hard, with many defeats. But many defeats add up to slow victory, as we make progress over decades at a time. Things are better than they were in Dorothyƒ­s heyday, and we owe much of it to her and her contemporaries. We also owe a great debt to her for the life she has modeled for us -- a modern day picture of Christ among the poor, the hope of many. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

One of TEN best I've ever read
This book completely captivates you. It makes you feel like you are sitting down with all these people and having a cup of hot cocoa. The writer too, has the extraordinary good nature to include herself in the book, remain light and take you with her wherever she knows you'd like to go. The book has amazing insights into every aspect of the human psyche. I found myself reading, being so overwhelmed with its humaness and kindness that I had to stop and press my hand across the page and reverently feel it. It riveting, yet calming.

Living with Dorothy Day
It's Sunday afternoon, and I'm unwinding. I sit down to the refreshment of continuing to read Dorothy
Day: Portraits by Those Who Knew Her, by Rosalie Riegle. I get up to tell you the comfort, joy, and a
whole lot of other things that it gives me! Reading the book is a vicarious living with Dorothy. The
author has done a wonderful arranging of disparate materials, so that there's an appropriate sense of
progression. That's a feat! (This is a book I don't want to end.) ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Not What I Was Hoping For
Although easy to read, this book is more boring than Dorothy Day's autobiography. I had to struggle to finish it. Written in the style of a journalist's interview, the book would have been better if printed in a condensed form as a magazine article. Half the time quoting an interviewed Dorothy Day or remarks written in her autobiography, and the other half written with stage like asides for background, the book is filled with footnotes constantly interupting the reading. One can't skip the footnotes however. To follow the author he must check the footnotes listed on every page, going to the end of the book and not looking down at the bottom of the page. Thus so I often found myself lost doing this and I quickly lost interest. Towards the middle of the book I lost interest in Dorothy Day altogether. This work is terribly written. Robert Coles should have written it in a third person singular narritive to make it more concise. Coles should have omitted the footnotes altogether or at least incorporated their facts in some cohesive fashion.

As to the context of the subject, I confess I find Dorothy Day boorishly political and about as exciting as watching grass grow. Her Gandhi like ideas of Utopia are in fact unrealistic. Dorothy Day should have known what "Utopia" means and where it came from. Utopia was a word invented by the martyr Saint Thomas More meaning "No Such Place." And so indeed are the political realities of Dorothy Day.

Dorothy day
"Dorothy Day: A Radical Devotion" was a good book because it showed Dorothy's imperfections and her good points. Some authors only tell about the good points of people's lives, but this book shows that Dorothy Day wasn't perfect. She made mistakes in her life. I learned a lot of interesting facts that I never knew about Dorothy Day. This book shows how Dorothy was devoted to helping the homeless. She established thirty three homeless houses across the whole country. She was brave when she left her husband to convert to Catholicism. Her husband didn't approve of God. Her daughter was baptized. My favorite part of the whole book is when the homeless man comes into the hospitality house and he has a gun with him. He threatens to shoot the gun. Instead of calling the cops, Dorothy goes over to the man and introduces herself. This shows how brave and courageous Dorothy is. The man then talks to her. All he wanted was for someone to appreciate him and someone to talk to him. He visited her often. Dorothy was there for him. This book gave me hope because it shows that an immoral person such as Dorothy Day turned into a woman who had great morals. She went from having an abortion to establishing hospitality houses. If a person knows someone who has no morals, they shouldn't give up on them because if they have enough faith in God, they can turn themselves around like Dorothy Day turned herself around. Having faith in God can help a person through anything. We all make mistakes in our lives and do things we shouldn't but we have to learn by these mistakes and try to better ourselves. Also, like Dorothy we have to do what makes us happy and not listen to other people. She lost her husband and gave up a lot of material things, but this is what made her happy and she helped a lot of people.

A concise treatment of a complex life
Biographers frequently become lost in minutiae.

Dorothy Day poses a particular challenge to the discriminating writer, because of the sheer volume of material about her life, including an autobiography, an autobiographical novel, a huge mass of journalism, biographies, and the writings of a number of her contemporaries. Given such a prolific writer, the reader might expect with dread to encounter 900 pages of occupations of great-grandparents, musings in correspondence, and constant press quotes--the fodder of the "I've got a book deal and I'm gonna put out a tome" kind of bio writing that we see all too often.

Coles' book is a breath of fresh air. In a hundred and a half pages he gives us an overview of her life and ideas, framed by excerpts from his own interviews with Ms. Day in her later years. Coles' editorial voice is always present, but generally open-minded. This is not a literary biography, evaluating the merit of Ms. Day's writings, nor a social biography, intending to give us all the inner workings of the Catholic worker movement. Instead, this is a meditation on the inspirations and contradictions inherent in this very rich life, told as often as possible from Mr. Coles' impression of Ms. Day's own take on her life-as-lived.

I read this in an evening and a day, and found it inspiring, satisfying, and altogether well written. Sometimes I wished Mr. Coles had put a little less of his first person impressions into his reportage of interviews with Ms. Day,but other times I wanted more of Mr. Coles' touchstone analysis of what Ms. Day was saying.

A reasonable critique of this book is that one could read it and still fall well short of understanding Ms. Day's thoughts or the details of her life. The somewhat sunny tone may be perceived as uncritical. For me, though, this was a great bio--get in, get the job done, get out, leave an image as clear as a descriptive poem. This is a good read--I highly recommend.

A life of integrity
Robert Coles' friendship with Dorothy Day began in 1952 and continued through almost three decades until her death in 1980. Coles kept notes on his many converstations with Day, and in this book shares with his readers his intimate knowledge of this extraordinary woman. He quotes extensively from these converstations in which Day spoke simply and openly about all sorts of issues, and Coles says that he writes "in the hope of giving readers the benefit of her distinct, compelling point of view." In keeping with this, the organization of his book is topical rather than chronological, although the first chapter does provide a brief overview of the events of Dorothy Day's life.

The remaining chapters center about the issues that were important to Dorothy Day: her conversion to Catholicism, her relationship to the Church, politics, her daily life in Catholic Worker houses, and more.

What is special about Coles' work is that the reader comes to experience Day, as she revealed herself to her friend. We encounter her in all her complexity and even contradictions, and above all, in her stunning fidelity to her ideals and beliefs.

Interesting biography
Coles bases his biography on a series of interviews with Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker. He explores her youth which she didn't look back fondly upon and her devotion to major social causes that her conservative fans don't want to focus on. Ms. Day truly strikes you as a dedicated, sincere, intelligent and good person. While she may not have wanted to be a saint, she often comes through as possessing the modesty, self-criticism, concern for others and devotion to the Lord that one should expect in a saint. Coles' writing isn't great but is at least average for a biography, and given the subject, this was a book well worth reading. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

"All we give is given to us to give"
So says Dorothy Day in "Loaves and Fishes" (p. 177), and it is both the heart of the book's message and the central theme of her adult life. Thank goodness Orbis has reprinted this classic personal history of the Catholic Worker movement and the colorful saints in its ranks. In the book, Dorothy tells how her depression-era meeting with Peter Maurin birthed first a newspaper, then a hospitality house, then a national movement. In addition, Dorothy tries to explain the underlying theological and spiritual principles of the Catholic Workers: the resistance to power structures that cynically refuse to care for society's most vulnerable; the Christ-inspired conviction that voluntary poverty (or what Dorothy called "precarity") is a mechanism for social reform as well as a transformative sharing in redemptive suffering; that the duty of Christians is to collaborate with God in the creation of God's Kingdom; and that in society as it's currently structured, one is either on the side of the poor or one is an exploiter--there's no fence-sitting. As Peter Maurin says (quoted by Dorothy, p. 86): "We cannot see our brother [or sister] in need without stripping ourselves. It is the only [genuine] way we have of showing our love."

Reading Dorothy Day, as I try to do every year, is a reminder both of how far from the Gospel message most of us who call ourselves Christians live, and how wonderfully easy, joyful, and liberating living that message would actually be. By both her example and writings, Dorothy invites us to ask ourselves why we hold back from doing what we know is right, and inspires us to roll up our sleeves and accept the Gospel challenge. Let her have the final word here (p. 176):

"One of the greatest evils of the day...is [a] sense of futility. People say, What good can one person do? What is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time; we can be responsible only for the one action of the present moment. But we can beg for an increase of love in our hearts that will vitalize and transorm all our individual actions, and know that God will take them and multiply them, as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes."

inspiring
This book contains the highlights and experiences of Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. It is a very enjoyable book. The philosophy and beliefs are brought out in a series of experiences, many of them humorous, about the unique characters, role models and lessons learned in trying to adopt an early Christian communal attitude to charity and bring it to the streets of New York City. Dorothy Day lived her beliefs intently. Over the decades it resulted in running many urban soup kitchens, Hospitality houses, a farm or two, along with publishing the Catholic Worker Newspaper and authoring this very inspiring book.. This book will make you think,

A deeply moving book, from a sorely needed voice
At a time when the "mainstream" media insists on appointing the Christian Coalition and other groups of their ilk as voices of the Gospel in todays world, we are reminded of how much the life, words, and witness of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker are needed. Back in print in the handsome edition, "Loaves and Fishes" tells the history of the movement founded by Day and Peter Maurin. In an era when far too many associate Christianity with indifference to Christ's poor, and the embracement of intolerant and spiteful political agendas, the voice of prophets like Day are sorely needed. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The abduction of teenager Elizabeth Smart by a fundamentalist Mormon preacher placed a renewed focus on renegade offshoots of the Church of Latter Day Saints and the culture surrounding the religion in the state of Utah (which, like the church, formally opposes polygamous marriage, though state and religious leaders both seem well aware that the practice continues, and they often turn a blind eye toward it). Like Natalie R. Collins's 2003 novel SisterWife, Dorothy Allred Solomon's Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk couldn't seem more topical, but it is an even more powerful book because it has the weight of truth behind it. "I am the daughter of my father's fourth plural wife, twenty-eight of forty-eight children—a middle kid, you might say," her frank memoir begins, and Solomon (a freelance writer who now lives in a happily monogamous marriage in Park City, Utah) maintains a similarly gripping and poignant tone through the book. Her family's story is a fascinating one: Her father, the physician Rulon Allred, was also a fundamentalist preacher and a closet polygamist who went to great lengths to keep his plural marriages and sprawling family a secret from society at large. In 1977, he was shot to death by assassins from a rival fundamentalist sect, the bloody end to a misguided lifestyle that had already taken a severe emotional toll on many around him. His daughter does not hesitate to expose the violent and sexist behavior that permeates many of these cultish offshoots of the Mormon Church, but she does not reduce the believers to one-dimensional caricatures, either, and in the process of sharing a very personal tale, she often steps back to place it all in the much broader context of religion and society, charting the history of the Mormons and the contradictions between ideals and actions on the part of both church and state. --Jim DeRogatis ... Read more

Reviews (9)

An empathetic journey into the world of the other Mormons
I thought this book was fantastic. In a very human way, it fills a huge gap in what I knew about Mormon History and present-namely, what happened to the tens of thousands of polygamous families when the church shifted from pro-polygamy to anti-polygamy, and who are the tens of thousands of modern-day polygamists and what is their relationship to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The mainstream church teaches that Joseph Smith wrote down a revelation regarding polygamy in 1843, but that he had started practicing it well before then, but never recorded who his "wives" were, nor when they were "married." Then Brigham Young and the Saints in Utah had a whole bunch of wives and were honest and upfront about it. The federal government had a massive clampdown on the lifestyle, and in 1890 the church issued a "manifesto" stating that the church no longer taught nor encouraged the continuance of the doctrine. The way the church teaches it, the people who were in polygamous marriages simply ceased to exist as soon as the manifesto was decreed.

We learn in the book that a few days before the manifesto was issued, the president of the Church, Wilford Woodruff, called Dorothy's grandfather into his office. He gave him a calling to move to Mexico and establish a colony there were Mormon Polygamists could legally live their religion. Her grandfather went, but between the lawlessness of the country and inhospitable climate, they could not survive and were forced to return to America. A few events transpired were his viewpoint collided with that of the mainstream church-in addition to having abandoned plural marriage, the Church had drifted away from the spirit of the United Order and Law of Consecration. You see how her grandfather changed from a leader in the mainstream church to a fringe member to an excommunicated Fundamentalist.

Dorothy does a fantastic job of showing you the world through the eyes of a child born into fundamentalist sects of Mormonism. It shows her religious heritage and how it connects to the religious heritage of mainstream Mormons. And it shows the life of a child who loved her mommy and daddy, but obviously wasn't cut out to carry on the religious tradition that she was inheriting. The reader can clearly see the follies of Mormon polygamy and the flaws in the various adherents. But the focus isn't on the follies and flaws. Rather, the focus is on the humanity of the children, women, and men who find themselves indoctrinated in a religion of outcasts.

Unoraganized & Boring
I didn't grow up in, or around polygamy (thank goodness), but I am interested in what compells women to chose a polygamist lifestyle. (Because, frankly- yuck!)

This book didn't enlighten my quest for understanding. It was terribly unorganized! The chapter's bounced around from past, to present, to family members the reader had previously gotten to know,to random fourth sister-wive's (creepy term)third grandaughter, never previously mentioned.

I didn't care about any of the people, except for some of the sad, sad women who were sucked into the 'lifestyle' by naive choice mixed with force.

Making things even worse, the book was so dreadfully boring most of the way through- the history of the Mormon's fleeing to Mexico was confusing, (so many wives to keep track of) & tedious.

What does Solomon really think about the polygamist lifestyle? She chose not to stay within it- but her thoughts on it are as riddled as the messy narrative.

I gave it two stars, instead of one, because I do admire her bravery- I'm sure she angered a huge amount of her brethren.

Overall, the book made me feel creepy, sad, and bored. I don't recommend it.

I agree with "Rosy Memories"
I thought the book was disappointing. She is a good writer but the overwhelming whitewash of her father was a turn-off. The focus of the book seemed to be simply the surface of her life and the surface of the religion, and near the end I started skipping pages to get to something interesting. I really didn't understand if she wanted sympathy for this lifestyle or was trying to explain it.
Her fathers wives certainly needed sympathy, but I could find no real hardship in her growing up despite her whining about not getting enough attention from her dad.Unfortunately I know too many folks whose childhood would make hers look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm to have any sympathy for her at all. Strange it may have been, deprived it certainly was not.

Very good read
I could relate to Dorothy's perceptions of her life and I admired her deep powers of observation. I did feel some disappointment over what seemed liked resistance to tying the cruel life experiences caused by her father's inability to care for his wives and children wholly into her picture of him. She keeps insisting throughout the book that he was such a kind, gentle and magnanimous soul. Yet he had wives and children that lived in isolation and near starvation and that experienced the under-belly of life. Her feelings toward her father seemed almost worshipful at times and I wonder how much of that is the residual byproduct of her polygamous environment, this being just what is encouraged in such a patriarchal culture and how much of this is maybe resistance to fully incorporating these truths into the greater picture because she is simply not ready to bring her hero down from the pedestal and view him as a member of the human race. She does touch on the darker issues and tells truths but somehow they become a side story, not a part of who her father was to her. Ultimately though, when I consider that we all move through life one step at a time and as I think of what Dorothy has accomplished, of the levels of awareness she has achieved based on what her homelife was as a child, I admire her tremendously for what she has been willing to see and for the truths that she has been willing to embrace and act upon. If this is where her development stopped it would a huge leap of progression for her family. Every now and then a child is born into a family who is destined to break abusive and harmful family patterns and it's obvious that Dorothy is that for her ancestors and future generations.
I would highly recommend this book. For me, it pushed some buttons regarding partriarchy because I was raised mormon, not in polygamy but in many ways the flavor of my home life paralleled the lives of those that lived "The Principle" as described by Dorothy.

Rosy memories
Ms. Solomon's quest for identity takes half-steps and wears rose-colored glasses. Hers is a unique story for those of us not raised by a religious fundamentalist committed to hierarchy, progeny, and lack of responsibility. She keeps reassuring readers that this man is devoted to love and God, although he ignores the needs of his family to gratify only needs of his own. The fact that his children have to rummage through dumpsters to find food for wives and children while he schemes against polygamist rivals is OK with her. She can't get past "us" against "them," the chosen--this happy little band of outcasts--against the great unwashed. I read the whole story with increasing disappointment. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Moving Biography of a Modern Day Saint
I first read William Miller's biography of Dorothy Day in 1984, a few years after it was published. I immediately grew to have a great appreciation for this complex woman who contributed so much to the Catholic social conscience of the United States. Her life is botha witness to Jeusu Christ and a challenge to live the gospel radically. Miller was a personal friend of Dorothy Day and his work was written a few years after her death. The book contains many details about her early life, conversion, and her work with Peter Maurin establishing The Catholic Worker movement including the renowned newspaper and houses of hospitality. Her pro-labor and anti-war activities are also chronicled. Miller also mentions Day's connections with a number of well known luminaries such as Thomas Merton, Dan and Phil Berrigan, and her altercations with Cardinal Spellman. This book is a fascinating examination of a great woman and a slice of Catholicism that is often ignored. ... Read more

Book Description

Young adult readers as well as adults will be fascinated by this biography of Dorothy Day, the controversial and celebrated Catholic activist, who has been proposed for canonization as a Saint of the Church.

Dorothy Day embraced many causes: the poor, non-violent social change, the Civil Rights Movement, suffragism and pacifism. The co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement that began as a newspaper for Catholic social teaching and flowered into nation-wide communities of "hospitality" for the needy, the "most influential lay Catholic in the history of American Catholicism" who received the Laetare and Gandhi medals and was instrumental in Vatican Council II's adoption of a resolution that supported conscientious objectors and condemned "indiscriminate destruction," was also a friend of communists, atheists, and socialists. She was also a single mother, divorcee, the recipient of an abortion who converted to Catholicism and baptized her daughter in the Church. She marched with Cesar Chavez, became a model to the Berrigans, received a visit from Mother Teresa and communion from Pope Paul VI, and lived in voluntary abject poverty.

Her life could be thought of as one of contradictions, were it not for the very important observation that hers was a life spent in conscious imitation of the Gospel, but not along the straight and narrow, as Elaine Murray Stone so convincingly shows. ... Read more

Book Description

Newly available and expanded, the diary of a 20th-century leader in the fight for social justice--Dorothy Day.

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. When Dorothy Day sat down to record her thoughts in diary form, she wrote not only as the leader of the Catholic Worker movement but also as a mother, a grandmother, and a deeply religious woman concerned for even the mundane facets of life. But whether describing day-to-day happenings or the writings of the saints, Day's reflections return to her abiding theme--the call to personal and public transformation. Her diary entries touch on numerous social and moral concerns still vital in our day: the disenfranchised poor, the benefits of meaningful work, the significance of family, the dangers of secularization, the decline of moral standards, and the importance of faith. Available for the first time since its limited printing in 1948, ON PILGRIMAGE is published here with a foreword by Mich! ael O. Garvey and a significant introduction by Mark and Louise Zwick that highlights Day's early life and her commitment to the Catholic Worker movement. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The introduction justifies the price of the book
I would suggest this as the third book by Dorothy Day that you read-- after "loaves and fishes" and "long lonliness", however, the introduction to this book justifies the purchase for anyone. The introduction is lengthy (over 25 pages), and is written by two people that know the movement (they run Casa Juan is Houston). The book by Day is very touching.... but not an introduction to someone unfamiliar with her work. Often I suggest that someone new to Dorothy Day read the introduction, and then "Loaves and Fishes", and then returns to this book.

Bread for the journey
Many of Dorothy Day's sabbaticals from the Catholic Worker houses are chronicled in "On Pilgrimage," which was also the title of her long-running column in her monthly newspaper, The Catholic Worker. Ever the journalist, Day would record the most minute aspects of her trips--usually by bus and with a jar of instant coffee and prayer books in her small bag--and give her newspaper readers insight into the social struggle in the South, in Okie migrant camps or Indian reservations. Her compassion and observer's eye didn't conflict; she wrote about injustice with passion, but felt compelled to temper her anger at issues such as the mistreatment of black tenant farmers. Her distinctly Catholic perspective on poverty (indeed voluntary poverty was her lasting contribution to 20th century Christianity) and suffering as well as her feisty personality are evident in these essays detailing her trips. Even though efforts have begun toward Dorothy Day's canonization, she will never be a plaster saint...not as long as these warm and utterly realistic accounts are read. She comes across as a committed Christian who believes in the essential dignity of every human being, oppressed and oppressor alike. The only fault with her pilgrimage essays is their essentially hurried nature. Dorothy Day could be careless with punctuation and transitions in her efforts to get her thoughts on paper. The essays when she's visiting her daughter and attempting to help with the growing number of children are my favorites. Dorothy Day continues to be one of my prime spiritual mentors, precisely because of homey, faith-filled essays like those, where the grandchildren are climbing on her lap and preventing her from writing. The real woman--warts, moments of exhaustion and all--is in these pages. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Dorothy Day in her own words
Dorothy Day's life and writings challenge Christians to remember and serve the least among us. This selection of writings highlights a broad range of social, political and religious topics. In her time, Ms. Day's activism brought about much criticism and opposition. Today many remember her as America's Mother Teresa. Her purpose was to keep the Gospel alive through the challenge of service. Her voice continues to shine in the pages of this excellent collection. If you are interested in a call to social justice Dorothy Day's writings will be a source of continued inspiration.

Great!
This was the first book by Dorothy Day that I ever read and now I have just finished it for the second time.It's fabulous!Informative and inspirational.I found my faith strengthened by reading this book.I highly recommend it for all.

A call to radical Christianity
A collection of Day's writing, it's a fascinating read, and one would hope a call to conversion for those who fail to see Christ in all around them, especially in the poor. Remember, we are told not to judge and to give freely to all who ask. Think about that the next time you're approached by a panhandler. ... Read more

Book Description

This engaging introduction to Black Elk will show you how one person can accomplish big things.

This colorful book introduces you to the world of Black Elk, one of the most amazing people of the twentieth century. You will be inspired as you learn about Black Elk’s life—from his childhood in the American West to his efforts to teach the world about his people’s religion and culture, preserving the Native American way of life—and his belief that we all have the power to make the world a better place.

Through enjoyable biography, activities inspired by Black Elk’s values and beliefs, and his own words, Black Elk: Native American Man of Spirit will show you how one person can have a positive influence on the world. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from U.S. Catholic, published by Claretian Publications on November 1, 1998. The length of the article is 742 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The gifts of Saint Dorothy Day.(Cover Story)
Publication: U.S. Catholic (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 1998
Publisher: Claretian Publications
Volume: v63Issue: n11Page: p14(1)

Article Type: Cover Story, Biography

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