DOROTHY DAY-A REMBERANCE AND A MODEL

Dorothy Day was born in Brooklyn on 8th November, 1897. Her father John Day, was a journalist. In December 1932 Day met Peter Maurin, a Christian Brother. They decided to establish the Catholic Worker, a newspaper to publicize Catholic social teaching. The first edition appeared on 1st May, 1933. The newspaper criticized the economic system and supported organization such as trade unions that were attempting to create a more equal society. It also argued that the Catholic Church should be a pacifist organization. Day and Maurin believed the nonviolent way of life was at the heart of the Gospel. In the 1950s Day became involved in the campaign against nuclear weapons. This led to Day being arrested several times for civil disobedience and was imprisoned four times between 1955 and 1959. Day was also involved in the campaign for black civil rights and an end to the Vietnam War. In 1973, aged 75, Day was imprisoned again after taking part in a banned picket line in support of the United Farm Workers in California. I can never hope to fill the shoes of a Dorothy Day. But following her example, my destiny and goal as a Catholic priest in the American Catholic Church in the United States is to be the leader and pioneer of women's rights to participate in the sacerdotal ministry of Christ both validly and licitly. My daily duties involve teaching Constitutional law and paralegal studies in the morning, chaplain in the afternoon in the intensive care ward of the county hospital, working with the terminally ill, and teaching English in the evening to Immigrants from Mexico.