The Life of Dorothy Day

Dorothy was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 8 1897. In 1906 her family survived the San Francisco earthquake and her and her family took a drastic change in lifestyle conditions after Day’s father became unemployed and they were forced to move into a small flat in Chicago’s South Side. After seeing the shame her father felt with unemployment sparked

her vocation to help the poor. Originally Day, in high school rejected organized religion because she claimed she never saw these “Religious people” helping the poor. Her religious development was a slow process but eventually she became a very devoted catholic. She Saw the Catholic Church as “the church of immigrants, the church of the poor” This calling and strong beliefs in the teaching of God encouraged Day to help

those who were poor and unemployed. With this in mind and her experience, strong faith and family past

Dorothy started a paper known as The Catholic Worker. She sold the paper for a penny a copy “So cheap anyone could afford it” she explained. And on May 1st the first

copies were issued at Union Square and by

December 100 000 copies were being printed each month. The paper’s purpose was to publicise catholic social teaching and promote steps to bring about the peaceful transformation of society. By the winter the paper had received so much success homeless people began to knock on her door. Eventually an apartment was rented with space for 10 women and soon after a place for poor men. Next came a house in Greenwich Village. Then in1936 this community moved to two buildings in China town. The charity became a national movement. There were 33 Catholic worker houses spread across the country because of the depression there