Dorothy Day Research Paper

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According to Spencer (1999), Dorothy Day was born November 8, 1897 in Brooklyn as the third of five children to a Protestant family. She was born to a journalist father, John Day, and mother Grace Day, who moved to San Francisco shortly after her birth. Her family was subject to poverty following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Even while her family was impoverished themselves, Grace opened her home in order to help neighbors. Little did Dorothy know this act of kindness and care for others in her upbringing would play such an important role in her life. Their economic hardship forced her family to move to Chicago in hopes of better opportunities. Despite the fact that, Dorothy’s family did not frequently mention God, she took an interest reading books on philosophy, praying, and singing hymns. Her older brother initially fostered her passion for social issues when he got a job reporting social problems. Dorothy was appalled by the conditions of the meat-packing industry exposed in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle . As she became more active in social change than religion, Dorothy became…show more content…
This mission was evident in the Catholic Worker Movement. She wrote for The Catholic Worker, a newspaper, and wrote with with Peter Maurin in order to express the hardship she witnessed. The paper also outlined Maurin and Day’s temporary solutions for these hard times. When her pacifistic views emerged during World War II, the publication lost some support, but Day stood by her “love thy neighbor” mentality. The movement encouraged Catholics to participate in feeding, clothing, and housing services. The hospitality houses were run by volunteers who operated independently, each having their own way of doing things. The Catholic Worker Movement also encouraged a return to agrarian life because they believed care for the earth was a direct representation of care for the soul. (Stock,

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