Book Review — Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century

Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century by John Loughery and Blythe Randolph

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book, more than any other Dorothy Day biography I’ve read, gets at a truth at the very heart of her Catholic Worker movement: “we don’t measure our success, we don’t despair, and we don’t judge; we simply do the work God intends us to do.”

Some writings about Day (including, I would say, her own) fall into something like the classic Catholic Saintwashing syndrome — putting some gloss over the difficulties inherent in the truly Christ-centered life. Some, especially more recent works, focus on the shortfalls of the movement. Day’s own shortcomings as a religious leader, as the anarchist figurehead of a movement, are highlighted in the stories of this most disorganized organization. And this book does not soft-pedal those aspects.

But in acknowledging these worldly shortcomings it puts them too in the proper context. The Catholic Worker is not a social service organization, and it was never intended to be. It stands as an example of what Pope Francis has said he wants the Church itself to be: a field hospital for a damaged and broken world.

Dorothy Day set up the triage unit for that field hospital. It took in the worst, most damaged cases, and gave them a bit of respite. Its successes are not measured in terms of how it changed the world, but perhaps in terms of how it changed individuals who went on to change their small part of the world.

Day’s story as it is presented here is the story of small successes and failures which add up to an attempt at a Christian life. And it is in this — not the glossy holy-card image of a Saint but the messy but well-meaning life of a human being at her best and at her worst — that we can find some inspiration.



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