Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day was an American convert to Catholicism in the late 1920s. Prior to conversion she was more of a social radical, attracted to socialist ideas and living a bit of a Bohemian lifestyle. Horrified by the plight of poverty and the miserable fate of the factory workers she felt the need to take action in some way and began to perceive religion as too ineffectual or indifferent to social issues and an opiate for the weak. In her own words;

“..the ugliness of life in a world which professed itself to be Christian appalled me………As a little child the happy peace of the Methodists who lived next door appealed to me deeply. Now that same happiness seemed to be a disregard of the misery of the world. “

In contrast as she put it “The Marxist slogan, ‘Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains,’ seemed to me a most stirring battle cry.”

A few pages later she reflects;

“Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the meek,’ but I could not be meek at the thought of injustice. I wanted a Lord who would scourge the money-changers out of the temple, and I wanted to help all those who raised their hand against oppression.
For me Christ no longer walked the streets of this world. He was two thousand years dead and new prophets had risen up in His place.
I was in love now with the masses……..The poor and oppressed were going to rise up, they were collectively the Messiah, and they would release the captives..”

Years later however something in her perception about both socialism and Christianity changes as she converts to Catholicism!!!! Not that she forsook her concern for the workers but rather her faith took it in a new direction - The Catholic Worker Movement!!

Her story strikes a chord with me because whilst never a Marxist or even a proper Socialist I have (as my school friends will testify) been known for my leftish/socio-environmental/radical leanings in the past. I was always a bit of a frustrated leftie though because I like order too much and to play by the rules!!! However I felt strongly that our Capitalist economy was grossly injust (and still do) and so somehow by default that made me a 'leftie' because in a post Cold War climate the two often get presented as polar opposites with no other alternatives. I cannot tell you the joy it gave me to discover writings on the Distributionist movement (of which Chesterton and Belloc were key players), Catholic Social Encyclicals and now Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement!!!!

excited about Catholic Social Teaching and Action!!!!!

The weekend before last I attended a series of conferences at my church on Catholic Social Teaching, titled, “The Quest for the Catholic State”. Speakers spoke on a range of issues including business, education, politics, medical ethics etc. I enjoyed it thoroughly, catching up with people I haven’t seen for a while, and meeting new people, spending the majority of Sunday serving tea and coffee. Great fun! I even spent a couple of hours the night before cooking a lasagne for the hot buffet. It was amazing how many people brought food - we had too much!! Almost enough to feed the 5,000!! I was so proud of my effort that I even took a photo!!!! (I don’t cook very often so this was a big achievement for me!)

(PICTURES IN DUE COURSE)

More importantly however was the subject matter – Catholic social teaching and action. Sometimes Catholics (particularly those labelling themselves as ‘traditional’) get unfairly caricatured as being obsessed with ritual and liturgy and unconcerned with social issues. And sometimes the latter is true; there are Catholics who are seemingly indifferent to social concerns. So it was good to hear about the experiences of various members of the laity trying to live out their faith on a day to day basis and the various struggles they faced in their professions. There was also quite a bit of expounding on the various documents the Church has produced on social teaching.

Catholic Social Teaching
Two encyclicals much quoted from were ‘Rerum Novarum’ (Concerning New Things) issued in May 1891 by Pope Leo XIII and ‘Quadragesimo Anno’ (Forty Years) written by Pope Pius XI. ‘Rerum Novarum’ describes the ‘wretched conditions’ of many of the working classes and how socio-economic changes have lead to industry and commerce falling under the power of a very rich few who have “laid a yoke almost of slavery on the unnumbered masses of non-owning workers”. The encyclical urges that action be taken by the State, employers and workers to cure this evil but warns against Socialism as holding the solution.

Catholic Social Action
One of the speakers talked a little about the Catholic Worker Movement (CWM) established by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day in America in the early 1930s. Their activities were wide ranging; they produced a newspaper containing Catholic teaching which they distributed regularly along with Catholic pamphlets; set up the Worker House where they cared for those that were poor and needy, and Maurin established ‘Round Table talks’ on Friday evenings for the ‘clarification of thought’ around Catholic doctrine. There was also the development in the 1940s of the retreat movement. See these sites for more info. http://www.catholicworker.org/ and http://www.catholicworker.com/

Dorothy Day
Upon recommendation by a priest I am currently reading Dorothy Day’s autobiography ‘The Long Road to Loneliness” which is a fascinating read. I am just at the bit where she’s seriously contemplating conversion (it’s all very exciting) so I am sure I will blog more about Dorothy Day and the CWM in due course……

Gospel with gusto!!

OK, OK I confess, I enjoy being preached at!! I know it's not the most important part of Mass, in fact technically it's not part of Mass at all, but the sermon is one of the things I look forward to the most. I get very irritated at mumbling priests who read the gospel in a deadpan way and then proceed to drop half of their sermon into the lectern so that I'm either leaning so far forward to hear that I'm nearly sat on the person in front of me or I'm slunk right back in my pew like a petulant and defiant child because I've given up trying to listen. So although liturgically speaking Mass at Westminster Cathedral yesterday could've been better I thought the sermon was very good and worth noting. I know priests are not meant to be thespians but a strong diaphragm certainly helps. This priest read yesterday's gospel with gusto!! Here's the text from the Douay Rheims;

LUKE - CHAPTER 14

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit down, and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it: 29 Lest, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that see it begin to mock him, 30 Saying: This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, about to go to make war against another king, doth not first sit down, and think whether he be able, with ten thousand, to meet him that, with twenty thousand, cometh against him? 32 Or else, whilst the other is yet afar off, sending an embassy, he desireth conditions of peace. 33 So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple. (Emphases mine).

"I don't like it when Jesus talks like that" the priest began his sermon. Here is not Christ the meek and mild. Here is a Christ that challenges us to get out of our comfort zones and take up our cross the priest declared. Christ demands we renounce the world to be his disciples. How many of us can count ourselves true disciples he asked. How many of us are charitable only when it suits, show our love for Christ only when it is convenient. How many of us are prepared to follow Christ at all costs?

I love these kinds of sermons, they are powerful stuff and make me go, 'wow' this is amazing. They make me zealous to be Catholic. Now before I get accused of being a 'powerful sermon junkie' or only liking Mass if it makes me feel a certain way I'm not saying all sermons should be like this, only that this one impressed me a great deal and I wanted to share my zeal with others. Feeling awed and inspired is very precious for a potential convert. It is experiences such as these that move me closer to the Church, closer to Christ.

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As a point of clarification the Douay-Rheims has the following note for verse 26,

26 "Hate not"... The law of Christ does not allow us to hate even our enemies, much less our parents: but the meaning of the text is, that we must be in that disposition of soul, as to be willing to renounce, and part with every thing, how near or dear soever it may be to us, that would keep us from following Christ.

Being on Stronsay

I seem to be having trouble putting up more photos so I'll just have to paint pictures with words instead. Here's some extracts from my scribblings about the place shortly after my arrival there...

Being On Stronsay

The utter stillness of the place.

Not necessarily silence or even quietness at times, but a certain tranquility and calm about the island. A different kind of quietness from the suburbs - where there is an absence of sound and activity compared to the hustle and bustle of the city. The suburbs can feel dull and monotonous, - the degeneration of life of the elderly who are forced to slow down their pace of life or the contented middle classes who hypnotize the neighbourhood as they mow their lawns and yawn away lazy summer afternoons sipping Pimms in their back gardens. In the suburbs it can feel like life is on hold, a dream-like, trance like existence. No, here there is life to the place, the island has a soul but it gets things done in its own time, its own pace of life and that hits you about the place - it's an active tranquility, not a passive sleepiness. It hits you almost as hard as the way arriving in London hits you. Just 5 minutes in the city and you feel the pressure of it's frenetic energy. That wonderful horrible energy that keeps the place moving but causes you to burn out and collapse in weariness at the end of the week. Stronsay somehow seems to have a more sustainable energy and the calmness is almost tangible, you just absorb it.

Strangely enough I have never taken a photo of the chapel on Stronsay. A converted herring shed, it's hardly an architectural wonder but given I take photos of Bank of Scotland signs and macro shots of seaweed and other beach debris I am quite puzzled as to why I've never photographed the Chapel. But I did write about it..

The Chapel

Such a small space yet as I walked in, once again

the atmosphere about the place impressed itself upon my heart.

The familiar sense of sanctity when you recognise that you are in a place of God, when you recognise you are in the right place! Some people say that you should feel 'at home' in churches. Well maybe if home is indeed where the heart is, but not if they mean you should feel comfortable enough to put your feet up. If a church does not feel like a sacred space then where else can we find refuge from the world? What is the point of a church if it is to be like your living room, a social club or anywhere else in the world. Or of the world. And conversely if a place is dedicated to God then how can it feel ordinary - how can you feel completely 'at home' there. After all we are exiles in this vale of tears and a church surely should remind us of this.

It should help make it easier for us to contemplate the Kingdom of Heaven and orientate ourselves towards it, not make us too comfortable with staying on Earth.

It should help us to feel 'at home' in the sense that

our true home is with God in heaven.

Welcome to Stronsay!!!

Having been thoroughly harrassed last night (All Saints) by some Catholic friends of mine about updating my blog I thought I'd put some pictures up of my recent visit to Stronsay in order to placate the petulent mob before they bring the thumb screws out! So here goes;

Stronsay is a small island with a about 250-300 inhabitants. Which explains a lot...

Unfortunately the irony of this sign seemed to be lost on the young girl that was with me when I took this photo.

Stronsay used to have a thriving fishing industry and in its heyday as the tourist books will tell you, sometimes there were so many boats that you could walk across them to get to neighbouring Papa Stronsay!!!! Things aren't so wild these days but there are still plenty of boats about;

From the conventional......

...the less idyllic looking ferry by which most people arrive on the island....

..to the rather unconventional outdoor storage solution that you can't get flatpack from Ikea, owned by the family that kindly put me up for the week.

More later, including photos from Papa Stronsay..

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An absolutely beautifully sunny day was picked for this visit's obligatory tour around Papa Stronsay
OK, I've just spent the last half an hour trying to upload more of the photos to the blog but failing so I'm giving up for the moment...