Five years ago I moved into sheltered housing here in Oxford but continued spending time and working at St Francis House until the closure on 30 June. Over the past week or so, in the peace and quiet of this lovely little flat, I’ve been reading Dorothy Day’s diaries (1934-1980) and find them an unexpected companion in this time of change. I’ve had a print copy of the book for a few years but it was only when I found I could get a Kindle copy on my iPad mini that Dorothy’s words and thoughts were unlocked for me; I can no longer read normal print.
I’ve written earlier in this journal of my time as a Catholic Worker, the movement started by Dorothy and Peter Maurin in 1933, and although there is sadness around the closure of SFH, I am really grateful for my time spent in CW communities in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New York and Oxford. Reading the diaries has brought back memories of my two stints in the U.S., one of three months and one of eighteen months. CW life for me began with reading ‘Loaves and Fishes’ by Dorothy in 1999 and reading ‘The Duty of Delight’ seems a fitting accompaniment to this period of transition.
Instead of reading the book chronologically, I began by reading the entries from 1970 to the end of Dorothy’s life in 1980. At the time of writing I’ve just completed 1934 to 1940. It’s interesting and moving to see how she was aware of the same difficulties, challenges and joys she experienced throughout her life. The entries are really personal and honest and reveal a genuine vulnerability in the life of a woman seen publicly as strong, determined and, at times, uncompromising.
Anyway, this is not a review but merely musings
Dorothy converted to Catholicism in her thirties and Peter Maurin was a great influence on her thinking. I think that from the earliest days of the CW she met, through Peter, many Catholic thinkers and writers who formed her thought, theology, spirituality and reading. She was avid to make up for lost time and she was always a voracious reader. I was amazed to find in her diaries mention of many of the classics of Catholic spirituality which I read during my noviciate. Some of these books really influenced me and I was delighted to find out how much Dorothy appreciated them. It occurs to me that, because Dorothy became a Catholic thirty years before the Second Vatican Council, most of her reading was written by priests and religious. Vatican II stressed the importance of the spirituality of the laity and since the sixties innumerable books of Catholic spirituality and theology have been written by lay people. In a beautiful irony, one of the most influential lay Catholics of the twentieth century IS Dorothy Day and her writings have inspired generations.
Dorothy also read fiction and loved listening to music on the radio. It’s wonderful to read in her diaries about how much she was affected by the classics of European and American literature. She always loved Russian writers and I was interested to learn that while Tolstoy and Dostoevsky were favourites from her youth, she found Chekhov spoke more to her in later life. This has inspired me to read more of his short stories.
It saddens me when peace activists tell me they don’t read fiction. For Dorothy, fiction, classic and modern, deepened her insight into the joys and sufferings of humanity. Me too!
Live Adventurously 