Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa!

“Mother Teresa once invited Dorothy Day to speak to her novices on the occasion of Dorothy’s visit to Calcutta in 1970. Eileen Eagan, who was traveling with Dorothy, tells of the novices’ reaction to Dorothy:

“. . . I saw their eyes widen as she recounted the many times she had chosen to go to jail. They understood going to prison for truth and liberation, as Gandhi had done; now they were hearing it in a specifically Christian context, that of the Works of Mercy, of visiting the prisoner by entering prison. When Dorothy had finished, Mother Teresa took the black cross with the Corpus of Christ, as worn by the Missionaries of Charity on their saris and pinned it on Dorothy’s left shoulder. I know of no other case in which Mother Teresa gave the crucifix of her congregation to a lay person.” https://windhovering.com/mother-teresa-and-dorothy-day-two-radical-women/

To Read More About the Connection Between Mother Teresa, St, Therese and Dorothy Day:

• https://windhovering.com/mother-teresa-and-dorothy-day-two-radical-women/

• https://aleteia.org/2017/04/21/dorothy-day-mother-teresa-and-the-5-finger-gospel/

• – https://uscatholic.org/articles/200511/these-3-women-show-that-holiness-is-about-the-little-things/

“The synthesis of faith, ideas and practice of the Catholic Worker movement offers a unity of spiritual and social life to a fragmented, suffering world.  The thought that shaped the movement, the deep roots from which it grew, are not outdated but needed more than ever today because of war and violence against life in a culture of death, terrorism and the fear of terrorism, the toil of the poor around the world in sweatshops or with no work at all, the desperate conditions that drive so many to migrate from their home countries in search of work, and the crises within the church itself.” 

The Catholic Worker Movement: Intellectual and Spiritual Origins
by Mark and Louise Zwick (p.296), Founders of the Houston Catholic Worker in Texas in 1980

Cardinal O’Connor & Pope Francis on Dorothy Day

“The Cardinal found what some had considered very radical in Dorothy to be with the heart of church teaching and tradition: “Much of what she spoke of in terms of social justice anticipated the teachings of Pope John Paul II and lends support to her cause.”

“The anticipation of the thought of John Paul II by Dorothy noted by Cardinal O’Connor in the area of social justice is especially evident in the Holy Father’s writing on Catholic social teaching, the dignity of workers, and the common good.  He comes close to being like Dorothy in his concern for world peace and his effort to stop war.”

— The Catholic Worker Movement: Intellectual and Spiritual Origins. Mark and Louise Zwick p. 301

Dorothy Day “shaped fundamental values which will endure forever in the spirit of the American people.” The pope explained that Day’s “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.”