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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Pope Francis Cited Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton
The two Americans just got name-checked by the Pope
In speaking to Congress on Thursday, Pope Francis demonstrated that hed brushed up on his American history in advance of his historic visit to the U.S. In mentioning a few famous Americans whose lives could serve as inspirations as the world navigates current crises, he turned to two obvious choicesAbraham Lincoln and Martin Luther Kingand two whose names might be unfamiliar to those less versed in the history of American religion: Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.
So who were they?
Dorothy Day was the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, who used her faith to work for social justice. In 1940, TIME noted that, Among U. S. Christians who care for the poor, none are more blessed with selfless zeal than those Roman Catholics who labor in the Catholic Worker movement.
When she died in 1980, TIME explained that her take on Catholic activism was anything but uncontroversial:
To admirers like Historian David J. OBrien, writing in Commonweal, she was the most significant, interesting and influential person in the history of American Catholicism. If so, it is because her Catholic Worker movement blended zeal for reforming the whole social system with practical concern for helping the individual poor. She was arrested a dozen times, the first as a suffragette in 1917, the last during a workers demonstration in California in 1973, and took part in scores of labor and antimilitary protests. /snip
More, if you're interested >>>>> http://time.com/4048023/pope-francis-us-visit-dorothy-day-thomas-merton/
hamsterjill
(15,220 posts)I wasn't very familiar with either name.
gateley
(62,683 posts)Underpants mentioned on another thread that he'd just Googled them both, and I thought 'good idea!'
randys1
(16,286 posts)that, he is blowing my mind.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)homosexuals. Nothing of value comes from the bigoted and closed mind. No wonder Francis loves her.
Gothmog
(145,242 posts)It was very helpful
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)The nation of viewers is asking, running to their wikipedia ...
a brilliant stroke by a brilliant pope.
Hell, I'm fairly well-educated, but didn't know who she was until an Anarchist
friend handed me a book, and said "here, read this"..
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Absolutely vital history, lost but to those who care about justice, progress and democracy.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)Dorothy Day was a Christian. That doesnt seem like much of a statement; Christianity is kind of a big deal these days, has been for a couple thousand years, and there are a lot of people out there who call themselves Christians, often loudly and publicly while exhorting everyone else to do the same, but if we use the word Christian in its most literal sense, as a person who actually follows the advice and instructions of that guy they call Christ, we find a lot fewer people. Probably because a lot of the stuff that Jesus guy said to do; selling everything you own to feed the poor, helping the sick, hanging out with people shunned by society, and refraining from judging people while at the same time harshly judging yourself, are all time-consuming and fairly hard. Not to mention pacifism; turning the other cheek can be really difficult, it turns out. But when I say that Dorothy Day was a Christian, I mean that she actually did all of those things. Except maybe for the not judging, but she generally did a good job of treating others as though she wasnt judging them, which is close enough for most people. (I dont know if its close enough for Jesus. I havent asked him.)
Ok, so, she was a Christian. The particular flavor of Christianity she went with was Catholicism, which is nice if you like funny hats, and bad if you like birth control, but where it gets weird is that she was also an anarchist. The Christian anarchist thing doesnt seem so odd if you go with Quakerism or something, and there are people out there prepared to argue that there is no way to be a Christian without being an anarchist (though fewer, Im guessing, prepared to argue the inverse), and its certainly not unprecedented for the two to go together, but the Catholic Church is one of the most hierarchical institutions youll find outside of the military. So, how does someone hold Catholicism and anarchism inside one human brain at the same time without causing a messy explosion? And, more importantly, how does someone live the ideals of both Catholicism and anarchism?
The life story of Dorothy Day is basically the answer to that question. A shorter answer would be by having a lot of arguments with pretty much everyone.
think
(11,641 posts)Very impressed.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)to teach Americans about their own historic figures, who've been long
ignored, and unjustly so.
1norcal
(55 posts)Years ago I followed Thomas Merton because I was a fan of his teacher Mark VanDoren, and I felt then that he was on the leading edge of Catholic reform. A truly enlightened and very kind man. He died tragically in Asia as I recall? Thanks again...
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Because if he went directly to attacking marriage equality he'd get bad press?