…Dorothy would repeatedly surprise you. George P. Carlin, who was around the worker in the 1940s and eventually was ordained a priest in the Philippines, described Dorothy as “paradoxical to those trying to typecast her.” He told of a conversation in the late 60s when to his surprise, she was ‘boasting like a doting grandmother” about her grandson Eric, who was serving in Vietnam. I was ‘popeyed,’ said Carlin. “I said to myself, ‘I can’t believe what I’m hearing, Dorothy the pacifist.” But he continued, that was Dorothy: “She had her own strong beliefs. But all she asked of anyone else was to reflect and then act on one’s conscience. Once the person had decided, Dorothy was the first to totally respect the decision, even if it was one hundred eighty degrees away from her own personal conclusions.”p.34-35 Dorothy Day Love In Action by Patrick Jordan

At the start of World War II when Tom Sullivan, a Chicago Catholic Worker, enlisted in the army, Dorothy tried to dissuade him: Why didn’t he become a conscientious objector, like other Catholic Workers? “Because,” Tom told her, alluding to Hitler, “I think the bastard is trying to kill us.” Sullivan was posted to the Pacific and remained there for the duration. Dorothy wrote to him throughout the war, and when he was discharged, he came for a visit in New York. Dorothy welcomed him and even encouraged him to rejoin the movement. They had been talking together in the soup kitchen when she said to him cheekily, “Why don’t you go over there and start doing the dishes?” Not to be cowed, Sullivan responded, “I’ll do the washing if you do the drying.” She got up, grabbed a dishtowel, and Sullivan stayed to become a mainstay of the movement – managing the house, the bank account, and the paper for ten years – before eventually leaving to join the Trappists.” p.35 Dorothy Day Love In Action by Patrick Jordan

Dorothy Day’s Pacifism

“There’s always a great need for idealists,” Dorothy said early in the movement’s history, people “who uphold the ideal rather than the practical. Without them men would not strive so high. Little by little, it can be found that the ideal works and is practical, and then men are surprised.”

p. 35 Dorothy Day Love In Action, Patrick Jordan

“From her earliest years – and this is part of her quintessential Americanness – Dorothy was taken with the notion of human freedom and the unviolability of conscience…

In July 1965, Dorothy wrote that freedom is “God’s greatest gift to man.”

p.31 Dorothy Day Love In Action

NOTE: Dorothy viewed pacifism as the perfection of the Gospel. She upheld all of the teachings of the Catholic Church, including those modern issues just as difficult, but not as radical as extreme pacifism. She welcomed those who disagreed with her personal opinions as stated above according to their conscience, but this should not be confused with those who do not inform their conscience or promote disagreements about doctrinal church teachings.

For a great reflection on informed conscience, go to our Reflections Page and scroll down to the bottom:

A REFLECTION ON THE SECOND OF THE NINE PROVOCATIONS OF DOROTHY DAY

FOLLOW YOUR CONSCIENCE by Anne-Louise DePalo, Esq.