The Dorothy Day Library on the Web includes all of Dorothy Day’s writings in The Catholic Worker newspaper as well as selected articles published elsewhere and many of her books.
You can use the search form above, or browse the writings using one of the methods below.
For an additional list of resources about Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement, see the bibliography.
Note that these dropdown menus cover all posts on the CatholicWorker.org website. However, posts listed under 1981 or earlier are exclusively from Dorothy’s writings.
An account of the first five years of the Catholic Worker. Describes the C.W. not simply as a newspaper but as a movement. Explicates its position on labor and unions through Peter Maurin’s ideas on personalism. Much of the book, however, is taken up with the day to day experiences of the C.W., describing the soup lines, publication of the paper, picketing, farm communes, and the finances of the C.W. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1939.
States the objectives of the Catholic Worker and defends it against the accusations of other Catholics and secular thought. Writes on such themes as marriage, sex, the human condition, poverty, economics and a variety of Church doctrines. All of these topics are treated from an orthodox Catholic point of view. The book is adapted from the diary she kept in 1948, when she spent the first four months with Tamar (daughter) and the rest of the year at Mott Street and the retreat farm in Newburgh. She noted that the book could be called a woman’s book, since parts of it are directed solely to women. As usual, much of the book dwells on the day-to-day happenings in her life.
An autobiography written as a letter to her brother John. Conversion story genre of her conversion from Communism to Catholicism. Compiled from articles in America and Preservation of the Faith. Discusses Dostoyevsky’s influence on her life and the lonely experience of her conversion Reads as a baptized version of The Eleventh Virgin, with emphasis on her religious experience throughout her life. Expounds on such topics as Eucharist, prayer, Marxism, capitalism, free will and St. Teresa of Avila.
Autobiographical novel of her pre-conversion years. Begins with family relationships, with emphasis on her mother. Proceeds through her radical years with the pacifist, birth control, socialist and suffrage movements, and ends with her abortion and break up with Lionel Moise (Dick Wemys). William Miller’s biography on D.orothyDay gives the real names of the characters. The New York Times reviewed the book as “just one more adolescent novel,” and D.orothy herself later called it a bad book.
Summary: An account of the conversion of Ammon Hennacy. Profiles his anarchist and pacifist beliefs, sensitivity to oppression, effect on people, and journey to Baptism. (The Catholic Worker, January 1953, 2.DDLW #642).
Summary: Tells of George Clements whose skeleton was found in the woods near Peter Maurin Farm. Paints a picture of the natural surroundings at the beach house. Describes the men’s house in the city, wishing they had yellow paint for the walls. Answers critics who say they have a “morbid preoccupation with misery.” (DDLW #759) The Catholic Worker, December 1959, 2, 6.
Summary: Recounts her loneliness and poverty at college as well as her conscious turn away from religion. Describes reading Upton Sinclair, Ignazio Silone, Kropotkin, Tolstoi, and Dostoevsky–the latter two allowing her to cling to faith in God. Her yearning grows to struggle with the masses. “Where were the saints to try to change the social order, not just to minister to the slaves but to do away with slavery?” (DDLW #204).
Summary: Speaks of loneliness and how community dispels it, even though quarrels sometimes erupt. Explains where the title of her autobiography, The Long Loneliness, came from. (DDLW #564) The Catholic Worker, Oct/Nov 1975, p. 2
Summary: Recounts times she experienced strong fear–being shot at and verbally abused in the South, in prison. Urges praying for the courage to bear pain and hardship because of one’s belief in pacifism and faith in God. (DDLW #253). The Catholic Worker, April 1968, 5, 7.
Summary: Three reflections: a child’s view of Christmas, trusting in God to guide one’s work, and picketing as passive resistance to injustice. (The Catholic Worker, December 1934, 4. DDLW #199).
Summary: Notes visitors and correspondence. Responds to letters of criticism of their returning interest to the city (see Doc # 776). Says they are propagandists for principles, trying by gestures to work out truths of faith, a spiritual weapon. Visits Tamar in Vermont and describes how the children help. Lauds self-sufficiency on the land. (DDLW #775). The Catholic Worker, November 1960, 2, 3, 8.
Summary: A detailed account of her attendance as an observer at the Communist Party Convention. She identifies with their ends–a just social order–but not their means or beliefs (violence and atheism). Prods Catholics to “hard study” of those working for peace and justice, learning with her “of incorporating social thinking into the works of mercy.” Keywords: prison (The Catholic Worker, March 1957, 3, 6. DDLW #718).
