[ubipetrusest]

This article seems to be a "puff" piece on Dorothy Day. Archbishop Gomez concentrates on Day's emotions, not her "ideology." Is it a recommendation that “It was not the teachings of the Church that convinced her to leave the past behind and change her life. She was changed by Love"? Don't Catholics believe that the teachings of the Church are based on Christ's love? How does Day's history of picking and choosing among the Church's teachings recommend her as a model of faith?

While describing herself as both an "ex-Communist" and an exponent of "Christian Communism," Day remained in touch with her Communist colleagues Mike Gold, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and Anna Louise Strong throughout her life. More than twenty years after becoming a Catholic, Day described how "love" could be expressed: "Mao-tse-Tung.... Karl Marx.... Lenin.... These men were animated by the love of brother and this we must believe though their ends meant the seizure of power, and the building of mighty armies, the compulsion of concentration camps, the forced labor and torture and killing of tens of thousands, even millions("The Incompatibility of Love and Violence," CW, May 1951). This doesn't sound much like the love of Christ.

Archbishop Gomez misattributes St. John of the Cross's phrase "At the evening of life, we will be judged by love" to Christ. He also says Day was baptized in 1929, but she was baptized on December 29, 1927, according to her baptismal record. How much does the archbishop know about the woman he is championing?

A more objective view of Day's controversial life can be found in "The Catholic Worker Movement (1933-1980: A Critical Analysis" (2010) by Carol Byrne, PhD, and at the blog "Dorothy Day Another Way."

[RobbyS]

Many a social justice Catholic is inspired more by love of “neighbor” rather than by love of Christ.

[iowamark]

Day discredited herself and her Catholic Worker movement by opposing the US fighting WWII, even after Pearl Harbor.

[Montana_Sam]

Have always found Dorothy Day confusing, as if she herself was very confused. May she rest in peace.

We Catholics have to realize that the opposite of socialism is not capitalism, since those are two branches on the same tree of materialism, but that the opposite of socialism is Christianity, as it is also the opposite of capitalism. The Church unfailingly supports the personal property rights of individuals, and likewise denounces the error that a person might be both socialist and a Catholic in good standing. Many in the modern Church seem to have lost sight of that last.

[redgolum]

I will say this about Day. Her foundation is NOT tax exempt. They don’t want to be bound by that corporate law.

I admire that.

[Quoprimum1570]

Agreed. Archbishop Gomez has produced an article on Dorothy Day which is full of pious platitudes about “love” and “service” . He does not address the real issues concerning Dorothy Day which have been demonstrated with the support of rock-solid evidence in “The Catholic Worker Movement (1933-80): a Critical Analysis.”

There you will find the truth that Day never gave up her Communist ideology. She could not in principle bring herself to condemn the social and economic ideals of Marxism. Her actions flowed from this ideology and were not constrained by such limiting factors as Catholicism or patriotism. In fact, she retained a lingering respect for Lenin and, by analogy, for all revolutionaries who were inspired by him. How else did she merit among her contemporaries the nickname “Moscow Mary?”

Many people are now using their critical faculties to uncover the truth about Dorothy Day rather than accept at face value the ready-made image of her that the Catholic Left keeps churning out.