Dorothy Day

I finally received my copy of Day's diaries, The Duty of Delight, edited by Robert Ellsberg.  I've always liked Dorothy Day, even if sometimes I 've been suspicious of that period in her life when she was a "Marxist bitch" as I uncharitably referred to her on occasion.  That was mean, I know, but I never really liked leftist/activist women, though I've usually preferred them to their opposites.  I often find them cold, humorless and rather dykie.  But my attitude softened a great deal after meeting several nuns over the years, from Day's era, who remained faithful to Roman Catholic Church teaching/spirituality and their religious vows - some in monasteries, others in what used to be termed semi-cloistered convents with a direct apostolate to the poor.
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These nuns, several now deceased, told me of the days they either worked with Dorothy Day, or met her, and some even had her to dinner in the convent.  Others met and got to know several of her proteges, such flamboyant characters as 'The Baroness' Catherine Doherty; as well as religious celebrities like Thomas Merton, the Berrigan brothers, and others.  Dorothy and Mother Teresa also met/knew one another.  Through these sisters good example and stories of the early days of the Catholic Worker, as well as the vitality of Catholic activism combined with solid Catholic devotion which animated the Church before the Council, I got to appreciate the real Dorothy Day.  She no longer 'scared' me.  The woman really had abandoned Marxism for the Faith, although many continue to regard she and her movement suspiciously.  I like her - of all candidates for sainthood in modern times, Dorothy Day especially reminds me of St. Catherine of Genoa - another humorless yet deeply mystical social activist - albeit from a different era.
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Day has her staunch defenders and promoters of course - I'm neither of those.  I appreciate her spirituality and intuitive, albeit traditional understanding of the Gospel.  In fact, I like reading about the good Catholics who lived the Catholic faith generously in the first half of the 20th century - right through the 1950's, '60's, and '70's!
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I find it strange when people like John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter suggests that there is something totally new and unexpected happening today in the Church with what he calls the 'new' Catholic Evangelicals - who are living the faith so radically, while more or less condemning, or at least dismissing the pre-Councillor Church as made up of dull and non-participatory 'pray, pay, and obey' zombies.  How absurd when one considers movements such as the Catholic Worker and holy people such as Dorothy Day and numerous others who contributed to the propagation of the Faith.  It is this type of self-exulting, myopic arrogance that really annoys me these days.  The highly educated, half-baked intellectuals of our day dismissing one another as well as those who have gone before and actually paved the way for them to get to where they are today.  Mistakes are made in every generation.  Wait and see.
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Anyway - I look forward to reading more of Dorothy Day's more candid reflections and getting to better appreciate her deep, traditional Catholic spirituality.  Recently I read something Benedict XVI had asked Mother Teresa while he was Cardinal Ratzinger.  He asked her something like what she thought the Church must do to attract souls, and Mother Teresa replied, "We ourselves must change."  I find that beautifully echoed in something Day wrote, "We are not going to attract the masses to Christianity until we live it." - July-August 1961
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Some of our more smug brothers and sisters like to bring up quotes from the Holy Father regarding how at ease he seems to be in suggesting that it is not a bad thing that the Church becomes smaller - remnant-thinkers imagine he is talking about a pure, more exclusive Catholicism, a Catholicism where 'not all are welcome'.  I disagree completely.  I think it more reasonable, if not faithful to the Gospel, that Benedict XVI is referring to external realities - Catholic influence falling apart due to government intrusion and legislation which limits religious freedom.  As in times of persecution, such limitations account for the inevitable loss of property and perhaps institutions, as well as the various foundations that rely so much on private fund raising and marketing to promote their 'apostolate' and provide income for management and staff.
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I may be wrong, but I'm convinced the Holy Father could never envision a smaller Church as regards souls - like Christ and his saints, the Holy Father wants the Church to be filled to overflowing. 
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PS:  The Wanderer is referenced in the diaries.  I know!