Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal Volume 14 | Issue 1 Article 2 1996 Dorothy Day's Lessons for the Transformation of Work David L. Gregory Follow this and additional works at: htp://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Gregory, David L. (1996) "Dorothy Day's Lessons for the Transformation of Work," Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal: Vol. 14: Iss. 1, Article 2. Available at: htp://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj/vol14/iss1/2 Tis document is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact Gregory: Dorothy Day's Lessons for the Transformation of Work DOROTHY DAY'S LESSONS FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF WORK David L. Gregory* "Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable."' "Widely regardeda s the most influential lay person in the history of American Catholicismf or her steadfast living of the Gospel message. "2 "And whenever I tell them about Dorothy Day, they always think I'm saying Doris Day." ' * Professor of Law, St. John's University School of Law. B.A., 1973, The Catholic University of America; M.B.A., 1977, Wayne State University; J.D., 1980, University of Detroit; LL.M., 1982, Yale University; J.S.D., 1987, Yale University. Michael D. Jew, B.A., 1993, Cornell University; J.D., 1996, St. John's University, provided excellent research assistance. This article also benefited from many helpful comments, upon being presented at the Yale Law School Policy Sciences Institute Annual Meeting, October 28, 1995. Helen M. Alvare, Gregory Baum, Ronald Brunner, Robert Coles, Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Barbara J. Fick, Jack Getman, Mary Ann Glendon, Emily Fowler Hartigan, George G. Higgins, Lawrence Joseph, Randy Lee, Peter Linzer, Ian R. Macneil, John T. Noonan, Jr., Leo J. Penta, Robert E. Rodes, Jr., Philip Runkel, Thomas L. Shaffer, and Michael Zimmer independently provided encouragement for the project and additional valuable suggestions, upon reading various drafts. I especially thank Dennis R. Nolan for vigorously challenging virtually every premise of political economy and philosophy asserted in this article. The Fund for Labor Relations Studies provided generous financial support. 1. These words were bestowed upon Dorothy Day when she was awarded the Lastare Medal, the University of Notre Dame's highest honor, in March, 1972. See Alden Whitman, Dorothy Day, Outspoken Catholic Activis4 Dies at 83, N.Y. TIMES, Nov. 30, 1980, at 45. 2. The Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Collection, Memorial Library Newsletter (Marquette University), Mar. 1994, at 1. 3. VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 317 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). Published by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law, 1996 1 Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal, Vol. 14, Iss. 1 [1996], Art. 2 Hofstra Labor Law Journal [Vol. 14:57 CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ................................ 58 I. DOROTHY DAY: A LIFE ......................... 66 A. Family Life .............................. 67 B. The Early Years ........................... 68 C. College and Conversion ..................... 70 D. Hedonism and Radicalism .................... 71 E. Turning Points ............................ 75 F The Catholic Worker Movement ................ 80 1. The Catholic Worker Newspaper ............. 82 2. Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality ........ 86 G. Middle Age Pacifism ........................ 89 H. The Circle Closes .......................... 92 III. THE POLITICAL THEORY OF DOROTHY DAY ........... 92 A. The Philosophy of Personalism ................ 93 B. The Principle of Subsidiarity .................. 98 C. The Interrelationso f Personalisma nd Subsidiarity ... 109 IV. DOROTHY DAY'S LESSONS FOR LABOR .............. 110 A. Labor Praxis ............................. 110 B. The Labor Theory of Dorothy Day .............. 120 V. THE TRANSFORMATION OF WORK .................. 131 VI. CONCLUSION ................................ 143 I. INTRODUCTION This is a commemorative essay in honor of the late Dorothy Day, upon the eve of the centennial of her birth. It is also an assessment of the contemporary relevance of her lessons for the "transformation of work." Dorothy Day was a great champion of workers and one of the great 4 social justice heroines of the twentieth century. 4. Dorothy Day's autobiographies are DOROTHY DAY, LOAVES AND FIsHES (1963), and DOROTHY DAY, THE LONG LONELINESS (1952). For other major sources on Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement, see for example MICHELE TERESA ARONICA, BEYOND CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP: THE NEW YORK CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT (1987); BY LITTLE AND BY LITTLE: THE SELECTED WRITINGS OF DOROTHY DAY, (Robert Ellsberg ed., 1983); CAROL BAUER CHURCH, DOROTHY DAY: FRIEND OF THE POOR (1976); ROBERT COLES, DOROTHY DAY: A RADICAL DEVOTION (1987); ROBERT COLES, A SPECTACLE UNTO THE WORLD: THE CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT (1973); ROBERT COLES, THE CALL OF SERVICE: A WITNESS TO IDEALISM (1993); DOROTHY DAY, THE DOROTHY DAY BOOK (1982); DOROTHY DAY, MEDITATIONS (1970); DOROTHY DAY, FROM UNION SQUARE TO ROME (1938); JEFF DIETRICH, RELUCTANT RESISTER (1983); http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj/vol14/iss1/2 2 Gregory: Dorothy Day's Lessons for the Transformation of Work 1996] Dorothy Day's Lessons In 1997, several groups of people should rightfully commemorate the centennial of the birth of this remarkable woman. Workers are primary among them. Those who read law review literature should also reflect upon her life and her enduring wisdom. Beyond being a de fender FRANCINE DU PLESSIX GRAY, DIVINE DISOBEDIENCE: PROFILES IN CATHOLIC RADICALISM (1970); MARC H. ELLIS, PETER MAURIN: PROPHET IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (1981); MARC H. ELLIS, A YEAR AT THE CATHOLIC WORKER (1978); JIM H. FOREST, LOVE IS THE MEASURE: A BIOGRAPHY OF DOROTHY DAY (1986); ANNE KLEJMENT & ALICE KLEJMENT, DOROTHY DAY AND THE CATHOLIC WORKER: A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX (1986); PETER MAuRIN, EASY ESSAYS (1977); PATRICIA MCNEAL, THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC PEACE MOVEMENT, 1928-1972 (1978); PATRICIA F. MCNEAL, HARDER THAN WAR: CATHOLIC PEACEMAKING INT WENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA (1992); WILLIAM D. MILLER, ALL IS GRACE: THE SPIRITUALITY OF DOROTHY DAY (1987); WILLIAM D. MILLER, A HARSH AND DREADFUL LOVE: DOROTHY DAY AND THE CATHOLIC WORKER MO VEMENT (1973); HARRY MURRAY, Do NOT NEGLECT HOSPITALITY: THE CATHOLIC WORKER AND THE HOMELESS (1990); JUNE O'CONNOR, THE MORAL VISION OF DOROTHY DAY: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE (1991); JAMES O'GRADY, DOROTHY DAY: WITH LOVE FOR THE POOR (1993); BRIGID O'SHEA MERRIMAN, SEARCHING FOR CHRIST: THE SPIRITUALITY OF DOROTHY DAY (1994); MEL PIEHL, BREAKING BREAD: THE CATHOLIC WORKER AND THE ORIGIN OF CATHOLIC RADICALISM IN AMERICA (1982); NANCY L. ROBERTS, DOROTHY DAY AND THE CATHOLIC WORKER (1984); FRANCIS J. SiCIuS, THE WORD MADE FLESH: THE CHICAGO CATHOLIC WORKER AND THE EMERGENCE OF LAY ACTIVISM IN THE CHURCH (1990); VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993); RICHARD WOLF & RICHARD DEVINE, DOROTHY DAY LE MOVEMENT CATHOLIQUE OUVIER AUX ETATS-UNIS (1994). Books with chapters on Dorothy Day include: ANNICE CALLAHAN, SPIRITUAL GUIDES FOR TODAY: EVELYN UNDERHILL, DOROTHY DAY, KARL RAHNER, SIMONE WEIL, THOMAS MERTON, HENRI NOUWEN (1992); JAMES TERENCE FISHER, THE CATHOLIC COUNTERCULTURE I N AMERICA, 1933-1962 (1989); WILLIAM 0. PAULSELL, TOUGH MINDS, TENDER HEARTS, SIX P ROPHETS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE (1990); THIRTEEN FOR CHRIST (Melville Harcourt ed., 1963). Significant articles include: June O'Connor, Dorothy Day's Christian Conversion, 18 J. RELIGIOUS ETHICS 159 (1990); Robert E. Bums, TheExaminedLife: Give Us ThisDay,U .S. CATH., Apr. 1991, at 2; Henry Fehren, I Was Going To Write A Letter, U.S. CATH., Feb. 1 988, at 38; Melinda Henneberger, In Changing World, The Catholic Workers Hew To Their Co urse, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 8, 1992, at B 1; Patrick Jordan et al., Dorothy Day: Neocon Saint?, COMMONWEAL, Jan. 12, 1996, at 10; Erwin Knoll, "Put Away Your Flags," PROGRESSIVE, Apr. 1994, at 4; Dwight MacDonald, Profiles: The Foolish Things of the World 1, NEW YORKER, OcL 4, 1952, at 37; Dwight MacDonald, Profile of DorothyD ay, NEW YORKER, Oct. 11, 1952, at 37; Tim McCarthy, Li ght Of Day Shines Yet at Catholic Worker, NAT'L CATH. REP., May 21, 1993, at 9; Patrick Jordan, "Commonweal" and The "Catholic Worker," COMMONWEAL, Nov. 18, 1994, at 24 (celebrating the long productive relationship of these two leading Catholic progressive periodicals, on the seventieth anniversary of Commonweal in 1994); Tim Unsworth, Campaigns For Sainthood Can Ma ke A Lot Of Enemies, U.S. CATH., Nov. 1989, at 34; Garry Wills, The Saint Of Mott Street, 41 N.Y. REV. BOOKS, Apr. 21, 1994, at 36. A motion picture was recently released, ENTERTAINING ANGELS: THE DOROTHY DAY STOR Y (Paulist Pictures 1996). The film had a three week run in a few Manhattan theaters before opening nationwide in October, 1996, and generally received good reviews. See, e.g., Richard Alleva, DiminishingDorothyD ay, COMMONWEAL, Oct. 25, 1996, at 18; Richard Blake, Converts, AM ERICA, Sept. 28, 1996. There is at least one video available. HAUNTED BY GOD: THE LEE O F DOROTHY DAY (Corpus Video 1993). In addition, folksinger Pierce Pettis includes a reference to Dorothy Day in his song, Lions oft he Coliseum: "I Saw Dorothy Day on the Barricades; She Was Hanging With Comrade Jesus." PIERCE PETTIS, CHASE THE BUFFALO (Windham Hill Records 1993). Published by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law, 1996 3 Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal, Vol. 14, Iss. 1 [1996], Art. 2 Hofstra Labor Law Journal [Vol. 14:57 of the common laborer, Dorothy Day was also a journalist and author with a particularly apt message for all who put pen to paper, including those who compose law review articles: "We write in response to what we care about, what we believe to be important, what we want to share with others."5 While a few past works appearing in law reviews and journals have mentioned Dorothy Day in passing, none has, thus far, squarely focused upon the relevance of her efforts on behalf of workers.' 7 It is always appropriate to honor the lives of saints, and indeed, within the tradition of the Catholic Church, many believe that Dorothy Day is a saint.8 More immediately, for the practical purposes of this 5. VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER xxi (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). 6. Those few law review articles that have mentioned Dorothy Day or the Catholic Worker movement, in passing, include, Milner S. Ball, Power From the People: Rebellious Lawyering, 92 MICH. L. REV. 1725, 1731 (1994) (reviewing GERALD P. LOPEZ, REBELLIOUS LAWYERING: ONE CHICANO'S VISION OF PROGRESSIVE LAW PRACTICE (1992)); Michael J. Baxter, "Overall, The First Amendment Has been Very Good for Christianity"-Not!:A Response to Dyson's Rebuke, 43 DEPAUL L. REV. 425, 444 (1994); Joseph W. Bellacosa, Obligatory Pro Bono Publico Legal Services: Mandatory or Voluntary? Distinction Without a Difference?, 19 HOFSTRA L. REV. 745, 746 (1991); Geoffrey D. Berman, A New Deal for Free Speech: Free Speech and the Labor Movement in the 1930s, 80 VA. L. REV. 291, 302 (1994); Robert Coles, 97 HARV. L. REV. 1487 (1984) (reviewing DUNCAN KENNEDY, LEGAL EDUCATION AND THE REPRODUCTION OF HIERARCHY: A POLEMIC AGAINST THE SYSTEM (1983));-Ruth Colker, Feminism, Sexuality, and Sef" A PreliminaryI nquiry into the Politics of Authenticity, 68 B.U. L. REV. 217, 236 (1988) (reviewing CATHERINE A. MACKINNON, FEMINISM UNMODIFIED (1987)); Charles R. DiSalvo, The Fractureo f Good Order:A n Argumentf or Allowing Lawyers to Counsel the Civilly Disobedient, 17 GA. L. REv. 109, 119 (1982); David L. Gregory, Lessonsf rom Publiusf or ContemporaryL abor Law, 38 ALA. L. REV. 1, 17 nA5 (1986); David L. Gregory, Where to Pray? A Survey Regarding PrayerR ooms in A.B.A. Accredited, ReligiouslyA ffiliated Law Schools, 1993 BYU L. REV. 1287, 1309 (1993); Suk Tae Lee, South Korea: Implementation and Application of Human Rights Covenants, 14 MICH. J. INT'L L. 705, 733 (1993). My research has not revealed a single law review article devoted exclusively to Dorothy Day or her labor theory. 7. Contemporary saints are all-too-rarely recognized. Mother Teresa, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and Pope John XXIII may be exceptions to the rule. See MOTHER TERESA, MOTHER TERESA: A SIMPLE PATH (1995). For a very cynical critique of Mother Teresa, however, see CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, THE MISSIONARY POSITION: MOTHER TERESA IN THEORY AND PRACTICE IN TvO ACTS (1995). To say the least, it is even more rare to find any discussion of saints in the literature of the law reviews, with the possible periodic exception of St. Thomas More, the man for all seasons and the Catholic patron saint of all lawyers, martyred by King Henry VIII. See ROBERT BOLT, THE MAN FOR ALL SEASONS; A PLAY IN TWO ACTS (1960). See, e.g., Robert H. Bork, Law, Morality, and Thomas More, 31 CATH. LAW. 1 (1987); David L. Gregory, BookReview: Thomas More, by RichardM arius, 29 CATH. LAW. 344 (1984); Hubertus Schulte Herbruggen, The Process Against Sir Thomas More, 99 L. Q. REv. 113 (1983); William Kinsella, Thomas More: A Man for Our Time, 29 CATH. LAW. 323 (1984); John H. Scheid, Thoughts On Trial, 14 SETON HALL L. REV. 823 (1983); Dana George Toole, Commentary, The Star Chamber and the Origins of the Modern Administrative Agency, 13 STETSON L. REV. 59 (1983). 8. VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 71 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). However, Dorothy Day's response has been: "Don't make me a saint; I don't want to be dismissed so easily." Id. "[O]ne day somebody went up to Miss Day. She said, 'Miss Day, Do you have visions?' Miss http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj/vol14/iss1/2 4 Gregory: Dorothy Day's Lessons for the Transformation of Work 1996] Dorothy Day's Lessons essay, it is important to reflect upon the wisdom of the enduring lessons that Dorothy Day, by her life, her work and her example, may offer to dignify and to transform the future of work. Dorothy Day's active contributions to her cause are noteworthy. She first achieved fame in this regard as a journalist. In 1933, while living in New York in the depths of the Great Depression, she co-founded the Catholic Worker newspaper as the deliberate alternative to the Daily 9 Worker newspaper of the Communist Party. She concurrently initiated the Catholic Worker movement, which opened "houses of hospitality" 0 throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. These sites were established for the purpose of providing shelter for the homeless population and special care for the psychologically disabled within it." Day also championed peaceful civil disobedience and conscientious objection to the military-industrial complex and war machinery of the 2 U.S. government. Day said, 'Oh shit!"' Id. Many Catholics, including the Claretian Fathers and Brothers religious community, support the movement for Dorothy Day's formal canonization as a saint of the Catholic Church. See Robert E.B ums, The Examined Life: Give Us This Day, U.S. CATH., Apr. 1991, at 2. "For several years the Claretians, publishers of U.S. Catholic and Salt magazines, have been promoting the canonization of Dorothy Day ....[ T]he Claretian promoters of this canonization drive have received 'more than 1500 letters, many of them recalling the spiritual influence Dorothy had on the correspondents' lives."' Id. Not every candidate for sainthood has been enthusiastic about the notion. Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement and someone who was always in the front lines of social issues, is being promoted for canonization by the Claretian Fathers and Brothers. See Paul Galloway, Heaven Can Wait: Think PresidentialC ampaigningi s Tough? 7)y Becoming a Saint, CH. TRIB.," Aug. 27, 1989, at Cl. "There are those in the Catholic Worker movement who aren't too happy about our plans," says the order's Rev. Mark Brummel. "They tell me that before she died, she said, 'Please don't dismiss me so easily by trying to have me canonized.' She believed that when you put people on the pedestal of a saint, they weren't real anymore." Id.; see Pope's List Of PotentialS aints Grows, LONDON OBSERVER, Jan. 2, 1991, at 8A. There is evidence that even the atheist Michael Harrington, a former Catholic Worker, thought about the late Dorothy Day interceding for him during his battle against cancer. See VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 133 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). Here is this woman who is going to be a Catholic saint ... this pope... might figure out that she's a perfect saint from his point of view.... [I]t crossed my mind when I got my second cancer, and I thought it would wreck my ideological life, but if Dorothy wanted to cure my cancer .... Id. 9. See WILLIAM D. MILLER, DOROTHY DAY: A BIOGRAPHY 254 (1982). 10. See id.a t 259-60. II. See id. 12. See VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 10 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). Published by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law, 1996 5 Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal, Vol. 14, Iss. 1 [1996], Art. 2 Hofstra Labor Law Journal [Vol. 14:57 Dorothy Day's personal life of special solidarity with the poor 3 4 inspired many, including Thomas Merton,1 the Trappist monk, Cesar Chavez, President of the United Farm Workers Union, Robert Coles," 13. See Alden Whitman, Dorothy Day, Outspoken Catholic Activist, Dies at 83, N.Y. TIMES, Nov. 30, 1980, at 45 (quoting Rev. Raymond A. Schroth of George Washington University). 14. Dean Frank Macchiarola of the Cardozo Law School of Yeshiva University wrote a wonderful meditative essay upon the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of the great Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. See Frank J. Macchiarola, Reflections on Thomas Merton on the 25th Anniversary of His Death, CARDOZO STUD. L. & LITERATURE 265 (1993). Merton's primary works include: THE ASCENT TO TRUTH (1951); THE ASIAN JOURNAL OF THOMAS MERTON (1973); THE BEHAVIOR OF TITANS (1961); CABLES TO THE ACE: OR, FAMILIAR LITURGIES OF MISUNDERSTAND- ING (1968); THE CLIMATE OF MONASTIC PRAYER (1969); THE COLLECTED POEMS OF THOMAS MERTON (1977); THE CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER (1966); CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER (1971); CONTEMPLATION IN A WORLD OF ACTION (1973); THE COURAGE FOR TRUTH: THE LETTERS OF THOMAS MERTON TO WRITERS (1993); DEVELOPING A CONSCIENCE (1992); DISPUTED QUESTIONS (1960); DOES GOD HEAR OUR PRAYER? (1988); ELECTED SILENCE: THE AUTOBIOGRA- PHY OF THOMAS MERTON (1954); EMBLEMS OF A SEASON OF FURY (1963); FAITH AND VIOLENCE: CHRISTIAN TEACHING AND CHRISTIAN PRACTICE (1968); FAITH AND PRAYER (1988); GEOGRAPHY OF HOLINESS: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF THOMAS MERTON (1980); HONORABLE READER: REFLECTIONS ON MY WORK (1981); INTRODUCTIONS EAST AND WEST: THE FOREIGN PREFACES OF THOMAS MERTON (1989); THE LAST OF THE FATHERS: SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX AND THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER, DOCTOR MELLIFLUUS (1954); LIFE AND HOLINESS (1963); THE LITERARY ESSAYS OF THOMAS MERTON (1981); THE LIVING BREAD (1956); LOVE AND LIVING (1979); A MAN IN THE DIVIDED SEA (1946); THE MONASTIC JOURNEY (1977); MY ARGUMENT WITH THE GESTAPO: A MACARONIC JOURNAL (1969); MYSTICS AND ZEN MASTERS (1967); NEw SEEDS OF CON- TEMPLATION (1961); NO MAN IS AN ISLAND (1955); THE NEW MAN (1961); THE NONVIOLENT ALTERNATIVE (1 980); ORIGINAL CHILD BOMB: POINTS FOR MEDITATION TO BE SCRATCHED ON THE WALLS OF A CAVE (1962); OUR FATHER: PERFECT PRAYER (1988); RAIDS ON THE UNSPEAKABLE (1966); RENUNCIATION OF DESIRE AND WILL (1988); THE ROAD TO JOY: THE LETTERS OF THOMAS MERTON TO NEW AND OLD FRIENDS (1989); THE SCHOOL OF CHARITY: THE LETTERS OF THOMAS MERTON ON RELIGIOUS RENEWAL AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTION (1990); SEASONS OF CELEBRATION (1965); SEEDS OF CONTEMPLATION (1949); THE SEVEN STOREY MOUNTAIN (1948); THE SIGN OF JONAS (1953); THE SILENT LIFE (1957); THE HIDDEN GROUND OF LOVE: THE LETTERS OF THOMAS MERTON ON RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SOCIAL CONCERNS (1985); THOMAS MERTON ON PEACE (1971); A THOMAS MERTON READER (1962); THOMAS MERTON ON ST. BERNARD (1980); THOMAS MERTON: A PREVIEW OF THE ASIAN JOURNEY (1989); THOMAS MERTON: SPIRITUAL MASTER, THE ESSENTIAL WRITINGS (1992); THOUGHTS IN SOLITUDE (1958); A Vow OF CONVERSATION: JOURNALS 1964-1965 (1988); THE WATERS OF SILOE (1949); WHAT ARE THESE WOUNDS?: THE LIFE OF A CISTERCIAN MYSTIC, SAINT LUTGARDE OF AYWIERES (1950); WITNESS TO FREEDOM: THE LETTERS OF THOMAS MERTON INT IMES OF CRISIS (1994); WOODS, SHORE, DESERT: A NOTEBOOK, MAY 1968 (1982); ZEN AND THE BIRDS OF APPETITE (1968). 15. Robert Coles, the Harvard College and Medical School professor and writer, recounts poignantly his first meeting with Dorothy Day. She and another woman were sitting at a table together with what one could call a "one- sided" conversation taking place. The woman sitting with Dorothy was speaking of things indiscernible to most of us of this world. Yet if Dorothy hadn't a clue as to what this woman was saying.., she sat there patiently listening. When Dorothy noticed [Coles] standing before them, she simply asked, "Did you wish to speak with one of us?" Mary Anczarski, Small and Daily Miracles, CATH. WORKER, Sept. 1993, at 7. Her social influence considerably antedated the 1960s. http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj/vol14/iss1/2 6 Gregory: Dorothy Day's Lessons for the Transformation of Work 1996] Dorothy Day's Lessons the Harvard University medical professor, and perhaps the single most famous "alumnus" of the Catholic Worker movement, the socialist, 16 Michael Harrington. Harrington, reminiscing on his Catholic Worker activities in the fifties said, "[T]he Catholic Worker was as far left as I 7 could go and still be in the church."' He later eloquently challenged 8 the nation with his classic book, The Other America, which, in turn, served as inspiration for President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Pover- 9 ty." In the Vietnam War era, Dorothy Day's socially conscious journalism and Catholic Worker resistance to the war inspired the [T]he [World War II] years and immediately after-that's really the important part of her life... immediately before the war she was a grande dame already. She was still fairly young, but she was invited to all kinds of conferences. Evelyn Waugh would take her out to lunch. Joe Kennedy, Jr., John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy-they'd all stop by. Gene McCarthy, of course. People in the labor movement. Bishops from all over. She was Cardinal Cushing's guest whenever she went to his diocese [Archdiocese of Boston]. VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 78 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). 16. Michael Harrington graduated at the age of nineteen from the College of the Holy Cross in 1947. See VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 120-22 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). After one year of very successful study at the Yale University Law School, where he was invited to become a student editor of the Yale Law Journal upon the basis of his first year law school grades, he withdrew from the Law School and went on to earn a graduate degree in literature from the University of Chicago, in 1949. See id. Thereafter, he moved to New York City, where, for the period from 1951-1954, he lived as a Catholic Worker. See id. Until his death from cancer in 1989 at the age of 61, he taught political science at Queens College of the City University of New York from 1972. See Michael HarringtonM emorial Service Set, BOSTON GLOBE, Oct. 3, 1989, at 79; Robert Kuttner, Harrington' s Democratic Socialism Helped Give Capitalism a Humane Face, ATLANTA J. & CONST., Aug. 8, 1989, at A21. Throughout his life, he was a prolific author and social commentator. See VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 120-33 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). Michael Harrington poignantly reflected upon his deep intellectual debt to Dorothy Day and the Catholic worker in an interview just before his death. See id. His works include: THE ACCIDENTAL CENTURY (1965); DECADE OF DECISION (1980); FRAGMENTS OF THE CENTURY (1973); THE LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER: AN AUTO- BIOGRAPHY (1988); THE NEW AMERICAN POVERTY (1984); THE NEXT AMERICA: THE DECLINE AND RISE OF THE UNITED STATES (1981); THE NEXT LEFT: THE HISTORY OF A FUTURE (1986); THE OTHER AMERICA: POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES (1971); THE POLITICS AT GOD'S FUNERAL: THE SPIRITUAL CRISIS OF WESTERN CIVLIzATION (1983); SOCIALISM: PAST AND FUTURE (1989); TAKING SIDES: THE EDUCATION OF A MILITANT MIND (1985); TOWARD A DEMOCRATIC LEFT: A RADICAL PROGRAM FOR A NEW MAJORITY (1968); THE TWILIGHT OF CAPITALISM (1976); THE VAST MAJORITY: A JOURNEY TO THE WORLD'S POOR (1977). 17. VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 120 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). 18. MICHAEL HARRINGTON, THE OTHER AMERICA: POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES (1971). 19. VOICES FROM THE CATHOLIC WORKER 120 (Rosalie Riegle Troester ed., 1993). Published by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law, 1996 7 Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal, Vol. 14, Iss. 1 [1996], Art. 2 Hofstra Labor Law Journal [Vol. 14:57 20 21 Catholic left's most prominent anti-war resisters, Daniel and Philip Berrigan. Many contemporary social justice movements have philosophical and practical roots in the life and example of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement. Plowshares and Pax Christi, for example, both opposing the use of nuclear weapons and promoting peace through nonviolent civil disobedience, can be traced to Dorothy Day and the 23 Catholic Worker. Modem social programs, such as the Nehemiah 20. One of the first prominent acts of resistance to the Vietnam War occurred when Robert LaPorte, a 22 year old Catholic Worker in New York City, publicly immolated himself at sunrise in front of the United Nations on November 9, 1965. See id. at 38. 21. Reverend Daniel Berrigan, S.J., is a Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). See Tom Roberts, Soon 75, Berrigan's is Still an Edgy God, NAT'L CATH. REP., Jan. 1996, at 10. He first met Dorothy Day in 1943 when he taught at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey, and would take his students to the Catholic Worker Houses in New York City. See id. Prior to the Vietnam War, he had achieved distinction as an award winning poet and writer; in 1957, his first volume of poetry, TIME WITHOUT NUMBER, won the Lamont Poetry Award. See id. His works include: AMERICA IS HARD To FIND (1972); THE Bow IN THE CLOUDS: MAN'S COVENANT WITH GOD (1961); THE BRIDE: ESSAYS IN THE CHURCH (1959); CONSEQUENCES: TRUTH AND... (1967); DANIEL BERRIGAN: POETRY, DRAMA, PROSE (1988); THE DISCIPLINE OF THE MOUNTAIN: DANTE'S PURGATORIO IN A NUCLEAR WORLD (1979); THE GEOGRAPHY OF FAITH: CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN DANIEL BERRIGAN, WHEN UNDERGROUND, AND ROBERT COLES (1971); NIGHT FLIGHT TO HANOI; WAR DIARY WITH 11 POEMS (1968); THE NIGHTMARE OF GOD (1983); No BARS TO MANHOOD (1970); PRISON POEMS (1973); THE RAFT Is NOT THE SHORE: CONVERSATIONS TOWARD A BUD- DIST/CHRISTIAN AWARENESS (1975); SORROW BUILT A BRIDGE: FRIENDSHIP AND AIDS (1989); STEADFASTNESS OF THE SAINTS: A JOURNAL OF PEACE AND WAR IN CENTRAL AND NORTH AMERICA (1985); To DWELL IN PEACE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1987). On May 17, 1968, he and his brother Philip, and seven others, poured their blood, upon draft files they publicly removed from the offices of the United States Selective Service System in Catonsville, Maryland. See Tom Robert, Soon 75, Berrigan' s Is Still an Edgy God, NAT'L CATH. REP., Jan. 1996, at 10. They were subsequently convicted and incarcerated in federal prison. See id. Daniel Berrigan's account of the trial became internationally recognized through the play he wrote, THE TRIAL OF THE CATONSVILLE NINE (1970); it has been translated into many languages. See Linda Keene, Daniel Berrigan PreachesA gainst "Poison" Trends-At 73, Active Priest Plans To Stay Active, SEATTLE TIMES, Mar. 4, 1995, at B10. Today, Father Berrigan remains involved in lecturing on peace and in resistance activities to nuclear weapons and nuclear technology, through the Plowshares and Pax Christi movements, and he works with persons in AIDS hospices in New York City. See id. In 1986, he had a brief appearance in the role of a Jesuit missionary priest in the film THE MISSION, with Jeremy Irons and Robert DeNiro, depicting resistance to European colonial slavery imposed in seventeenth century South America. See Tom Roberts, Soon 75, Berrigan" s Is Still an Edgy God, NAT'L CATH. REP., Jan. 1996, at 10. 22. Philip Berrigan went on to found Jonah House in Baltimore, Maryland, and to continue civil disobedience activities against militarism and nuclear weaponry. See Jennifer Holland, Vietnam War-era Activists Still Spreading Message, DES MOINES REG., Aug. 24, 1996, at 3. 23. See FRED A. WILCOX, UNCOMMON MARTYRS: THE PLOWSHARES MOVEMENT AND THE CATHOLIC LEFT (1991); see also William L. Switzer, Jr., If I Had A Hammer- United States v. Kabat-Sabotagea ndNuclearP rotesters,2 0 CREIGHTON L. REV. 1167, 1173-76 (1987). The usual tactic of Plowshares members is to enter nuclear weapons manufacturing or storage facilities, and to pour their own blood on the weapons and to bang the weapons with hammers until they are http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlelj/vol14/iss1/2 8 Gregory: Dorothy Day's Lessons for the Transformation of Work 19961 Dorothy Day's Lessons 24 25 Housing Initiative and the Industrial Areas Foundation, owe as much to Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker as they do to the more sophisticated political organizing initiatives of famous Chicago communi- 26 ty organizer, Saul Alinsky. Although certainly mindful of these broader contexts, the primary focus of this essay will be an examination of the relevance of Dorothy Day's desire and efforts to create lives of dignity for all those who must try to survive in the ominously transmogrifying, precarious and anxiety- ridden working world of today. Part I will present a synthetic biography of Dorothy Day, and an overview of the Catholic Worker newspaper and the houses of hospitali- ty, in addition to the broader social ministry and mission, pacifist and arrested. Taking its name from the Book ofisaiah 2:4--"And they shall] hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles." 1d. at 1173. The Plowshares movement was founded by Daniel and Philip Berrigan. See generally VILCOX, supra. On September 8, 1980, the two Berrigans and six colleagues broke into the General Electric Company's missile manufacturing plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and poured vials of their own blood onto the nuclear weapons. See WILCOX, supra, at xi. They were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to prison. See WILCOX, supra, at xii, xv. There have been fifty three plowshares actions since 1980. See generally WILCOX,s upra; Chris Sorochin, IfI Had A Hammer, STONY BROOK PRESS, Mar. 11, 1996, at 7. 24. The Nehemiah Housing Initiative in the 1980's transformed abandoned portions of Brooklyn, New York, into vibrant communities of proud, working class homeowners. See SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN, UPON THIS ROCK: THE MIRACLES OF A BLACK CHURCH 319-44 (1993). Thousands of homes were built, via positive synergies among local churches and government, through church- based community organizers. See id. (describing the actions of the East Brooklyn Congregations in their efforts of community renewal); Robin Epstein, The IndustrialA reas FoundationI s Breaking Old Barrierso f Class and Race to Build A New PoliticalP owerhouse, CITY LIMITS, Mar. 1995, at 18. 25. The Nehemiah plan in New York City has been successfully emulated in other cities through the Industrial Areas Foundation. Anthony D. Taibi, Racial Justice in the Age of The Global Economy: Community Empowerment and Global Strategy, 44 DUKE LJ.9 28, 971 (1995). The IAF seeks to organize churches, synagogues and civil associations for community renewal. See id. See generally Leo J. Penta, Organizing and Public Philosophy: The IndustrialA reas Foundation, 4 J. PEACE & JUST. STUD. 17 (1992). The Industrial Areas Foundation was founded by the legendary Chicago rabble-rouser Saul Alinsky in 1940. Its national network now includes 45 groups, up from 28 in 1990. In the years since 1972, when Ed Chambers took over as executive director following Alinsky's death, the IAF has perfected its unique brand of church-based organizing. Robin Epstein, The Industrial Areas FoundationI s Breaking Old Barriers of Class and Race to BuildA New PoliticalP owerhouse,C ITY LMrrs, Mar. 1995, at 18 (discussing community organizing initiatives in many parts of the United States, targeting improvements in communities' public education, health care, and housing). 26. See vILLIAM D. MILLER, DOROTHY DAY: A BIOGRAPHY 408 (1982). Saul Alinsky was a "rebel" of community organizing. See, e.g., SAUL D. ALNsKY, REVEILLE FOR RADICALS (1946); ROBERT BAILEY, JR., RADICALS IN URBAN POLITICS: THE ALINSKY APPROACH (1974); P. DAVID FINKS, THE RADICAL VISION OF SAUL ALINSKY (1984); SANFORD D. HORwIrr, LET THEM CALL ME REBEL: SAUL ALINSKY HIS LIFE AND LEGACY (1989). Published by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law, 1996 9