“The aim of the Catholic Worker movement is to live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ. . . . This aim requires us to begin living in a different way. We recall the words of our founders, Dorothy Day who said, ‘God meant things to be much easier than we have made them,’ and Peter Maurin who wanted to build a society ‘where it is easier for people to be good.’”
—the aims and means of the catholic worker
The Movement
An overview of the Catholic Worker: aims and means, history, books, bibliography, and more.
Dorothy Day
Biographies, writings, canonization, and more about the co-founder of the Catholic Worker.
LATEST CATHOLIC WORKER NEWS
At the Factory That Makes Parts for World War III, Protesters Call for a Change of Heart
In the pre-dawn hours on Monday, April 15, dozens of Catholic Workers and their allies gathered at the Kansas City National Security Campus. Their mission was to beg the workers…
Martha Hennessy’s Revolution of the Heart
In an article adapted from her March 2024 talk at the University of Glasgow, Martha Hennessy discusses Dorothy Day, her canonization cause, and how her grandmother’s example led her to…
Down the Rabbit Hole in Search of Community
Tyler Hambley writes about how his encounter with a Catholic Worker community led to personal transformation and a deeper, richer understanding of community–and his faith. This essay is reprinted from…
Lydia Wong: Welcoming Migrants Bussed From Texas (CCW Ep 22)
In this episode of “Coffee with Catholic Workers,” Theo Kayser interviews co-host Lydia Wong about Emmaus House’s work responding to the urgent needs of migrants sent north from the southern…
The Long Struggle for Nuclear Disarmament: A Catholic Worker Panel
Why is the Catholic Worker so engaged with the issue of nuclear proliferation? And why Is a younger generation of activists seemingly less engaged on it? With the multi-trillion-dollar resurgence…
CWers Among 50 Activists Protesting Drones, Nukes, in Nevada
About 50 people, including Catholic Workers, participated in the Nevada Desert Experience walk from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), where the U.S. government is conducting subcritical…
Our Computer Dilemma, Still
As long ago as 1983, the New York Catholic Worker was wrestling with the implications of new digital technologies. In this essay for The Catholic Worker newspaper, Liam Myers…
Catholic Worker Artists Celebrated in New CW Publication
Sarah Fuller and Becky McIntyre talk about the launch of their newsletter, The Illuminator, by and about Catholic Worker artists.
West Bank Palestinians Suffering from Widespread Violence, CW Activist Reports
Cassandra Dixon, the Wisconsin Catholic Worker who has been visiting Palestine for 15 years, describes the deteriorating situation for her friends in Masafer Yatta, a region in the southern West…
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THE CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT
A Brief Introduction to the Catholic Worker Movement
Tom Cornell, associate editor of The Catholic Worker and a leader in Catholic peace and justice movements, offers a brief overview of the Catholic Worker Movement.
The Evolution of the ‘Aims and Means of the Catholic Worker’
The Aims and Means of the Catholic Worker movement describe its goals and the means by which the movement hopes to achieve those goals. The Aims and Means have taken…
What is the Catholic Worker?
This essay was written by Jim Forest on the Catholic Worker Movement for The Encyclopedia of American Catholic History to be published by the Liturgical Press. Jim Forest, once a…
Biography of Peter Maurin
This essay by Jim Forest on Peter Maurin was written for The Encyclopedia of American Catholic History published by the Liturgical Press.
The Life and Spirituality of Dorothy Day
This article is from the introduction to the book Praying with Dorothy Day by James Allaire and Rosemary Broughton.
May Day, 1933
An account of the birth of the Catholic Worker Movement on May 1, 1933, in New York City’s Union Square, from the opening paragraphs of “All Is Grace: a Biography…