The Road to Character

Tumult seems to have marked Dorothy Day’s life: from her earliest memories of surviving the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, through her pious teenage years and subsequent hedonistic young-adult years aligned with Anarchism and Communism, through her eventual draw toward Catholicism and conversion to it. Day’s personal losses, from break-ups with lovers to estrangement from family, led her nearer to her yearning for God and faith that led her to become Catholic. Personal suffering and loss, as well as her political-activist background, led her to found a newspaper called The Catholic Worker, as well as a movement consisting of boarding houses and communes in which Catholic Workers offered aid, shelter, and connection to those in need.