Dorothy Day,
Broadcaster of Seeds
“We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt.” — Dorothy Day
My friend in Holland Jim Forest send me this quote today from one of the most influential persons in my life, Dorothy Day, co-founder with Peter Maurin of the Catholic Worker movement. Although she died in 1980 and had only one child, Tamar, who died the other day, her spirit lives on in countless Catholic Workers all over the world and with many persons, like me, touched by her life. She was the person, in my mind, who best combined the works of mercy, feeding the hungry, and offering shelter for the homeless, with the works of peace and justice, opposing war and violence, and working for human rights. With her there was no conflict with being arrested for resisting military intervention in our lives and working on the soup line at a Catholic Worker House. To find a quote from her using the planting of seeds as an analogy is a treasure. The purpose of the Diary of the Worm is to take the lessons of Growing Power and combine them with the lessons of creative nonviolence. Catholic Workers are to be found not just in houses of hospitality in urban environments but also on the farm raising food for the community and offering a retreat from the hectic environment of everyday life.
Marquette University, with its four departments of military science, is where Dorothy Day’s and the Catholic Workers archives reside. This is major paradox and Dorothy’s granddaughter stated when she signed the MU Peace petition: ”Dorothy Day would be weeping today about the role that Catholics are playing in the endless war making.” Jesuits had an influence on Dorothy Day and I am sure she would agree with Deacon Tom Cornell, Jesuit educated and living on the Peter Maurin Catholic Worker Farm, who said on the petition: “I beg the Jesuit Community to be true to its charism and rid itself of this militarist taint.” If Marquette is planting the seeds of faith, hope and love in young men and women, it needs to rid itself of the weeds of teaching military values contrary to Gospel Values.
Tomorrow I will plant some more seeds in the sunroom and in life. Also the three of us in the DMZ Gardens will meet for lunch to talk about planting some more seeds in our new DMZ garden on a vacant lot in the central city. Dorothy Day was a great broadcaster of seeds and many have taken root in fertile ground, have flowered and gone to seed again and again.
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