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'Don't call me a saint. I don't want to be dismissed that easily.' These feisty words come from Dorothy Day (1897-1980), the colorful and controversial journalist, social activist, and founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Yet despite her protest, twenty years after her death the cause for her canonization by the Catholic Church began, and her prophetic example remains a provocative challenge to the status quo that cannot be easily dismissed. Today, her lifelong fight for the poor and the powerless has earned her an undisputed place in American religious social history. Day was known for devoting herself to 'comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.' This intriguing biography traces her early life as a social and political rebel who took up journalism in anarchist, socialist, and atheist circles in New York. The story then takes us through her most difficult years, marred by spiritual confusion, a failed common-law marriage, and even an abortion--a troubled season of her life that ultimately led to her conversion to the Catholic faith and her dedication to a radical living out of Catholic social principles. This book draws from the journalist's voluminous writings and the testimony of people who knew her well. It explores the connections between Day's formidable public achievements and her private life of prayer, Scripture study, and devotion to the Sacraments. The result is a stirring portrait of a champion of justice who worked tirelessly to awaken the conscience of a nation.
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