Of the thousands of forms of belief that use the name “christian” that exist across the globe I trust that form described in what follows is not what mr vaught has in mind. “Servant of God Dorothy Day
Cofounder of the Catholic Worker (1897–1980)
In his 2015 speech to Congress, Pope Francis included Dorothy Day among his list of four “great…
Of the thousands of forms of belief that use the name “christian” that exist across the globe I trust that form described in what follows is not what mr vaught has in mind. “Servant of God Dorothy Day
Cofounder of the Catholic Worker (1897–1980)
In his 2015 speech to Congress, Pope Francis included Dorothy Day among his list of four “great Americans” who offer a “new way of seeing and interpreting reality.” Among those in the audience, there were surely some who remembered that she had been called other things: Un-American, Communist, heretic. Now, with her cause for canonization in process, she may one day be called a saint. If so, she will be a saint with an unusual backstory, having spent her youth among Communists and other radicals. An unhappy love affair ended tragically with an abortion.
And yet, following the later birth of a daughter, she underwent a dramatic conversion and became Catholic. She felt that everything in her past had led her to this leap, including the influence of her radical comrades with their passion for justice and love for the poor. She prayed to connect these convictions with her new faith and found an answer through Peter Maurin, a French “peasant-philosopher,” who inspired her to launch the Catholic Worker movement in 1933. In this movement she combined the works of mercy with a critique of the values and systems that create so much misery. Embracing voluntary poverty, she was often arrested in protests for peace, while pointing toward a new world based on solidarity, mercy, and community. Her life was sustained by prayer, devotion to the saints, and the practice of what she called “the duty of delight.” Pointing toward a new model of holiness for our time, Dorothy Day died on November 29, 1980.
“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution that has to start with each one of us.”—Servant of God Dorothy Day”
Yeah Dorothy Day and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Ammon Hennacy (who I was privileged to know in the 60s) were not the kind of false Xtians Vought and the Claremont scum are.
Thank you, TC, for not painting all Christians with the same brush. The Christian Nationalists are an aberration of their own. Dorothy Day walked the talk.
The one we need to pay attention to in our time is the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He saw what was coming in the Germany of the early 1930’s and experienced the gradual and complete co-option of the church--which already was entangled in the state through a religious tax system that paid pastors.
When the Third Reich tried to control their internal belief systems some church people tried to resist their complete cooption by the State. Thus the Barmen Declaration and the break off Confessing Church.
Bonhoeffer tried to prepare young pastors for a real Christianity that would have to navigate over against the state apparatus, knowing full well that they all faced forced military duty and possible death.
He believed in the non-violence of the Jesus of the Gospel and morally struggled with his involvement in a plan to kill Hitler, who eventually ordered Bonhoeffer’s death (by hanging ) in a concentration camp.
His central action, which we can learn from today, was to form small groups whose members knew and loved one another and could support one another in a fear filled, challenging times ahead. He firmly believed that in this kind of societal climate resistance could not be done on one’s own but with the strength of others.
Carol, I agree that Bonhoeffer sets an example for how Christians should respond to the government. The newly released film may introduce him to a much wider audience now.
Of the thousands of forms of belief that use the name “christian” that exist across the globe I trust that form described in what follows is not what mr vaught has in mind. “Servant of God Dorothy Day
Cofounder of the Catholic Worker (1897–1980)
In his 2015 speech to Congress, Pope Francis included Dorothy Day among his list of four “great Americans” who offer a “new way of seeing and interpreting reality.” Among those in the audience, there were surely some who remembered that she had been called other things: Un-American, Communist, heretic. Now, with her cause for canonization in process, she may one day be called a saint. If so, she will be a saint with an unusual backstory, having spent her youth among Communists and other radicals. An unhappy love affair ended tragically with an abortion.
And yet, following the later birth of a daughter, she underwent a dramatic conversion and became Catholic. She felt that everything in her past had led her to this leap, including the influence of her radical comrades with their passion for justice and love for the poor. She prayed to connect these convictions with her new faith and found an answer through Peter Maurin, a French “peasant-philosopher,” who inspired her to launch the Catholic Worker movement in 1933. In this movement she combined the works of mercy with a critique of the values and systems that create so much misery. Embracing voluntary poverty, she was often arrested in protests for peace, while pointing toward a new world based on solidarity, mercy, and community. Her life was sustained by prayer, devotion to the saints, and the practice of what she called “the duty of delight.” Pointing toward a new model of holiness for our time, Dorothy Day died on November 29, 1980.
“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution that has to start with each one of us.”—Servant of God Dorothy Day”
Yeah Dorothy Day and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Ammon Hennacy (who I was privileged to know in the 60s) were not the kind of false Xtians Vought and the Claremont scum are.
Thank you, TC, for not painting all Christians with the same brush. The Christian Nationalists are an aberration of their own. Dorothy Day walked the talk.
The one we need to pay attention to in our time is the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He saw what was coming in the Germany of the early 1930’s and experienced the gradual and complete co-option of the church--which already was entangled in the state through a religious tax system that paid pastors.
When the Third Reich tried to control their internal belief systems some church people tried to resist their complete cooption by the State. Thus the Barmen Declaration and the break off Confessing Church.
Bonhoeffer tried to prepare young pastors for a real Christianity that would have to navigate over against the state apparatus, knowing full well that they all faced forced military duty and possible death.
He believed in the non-violence of the Jesus of the Gospel and morally struggled with his involvement in a plan to kill Hitler, who eventually ordered Bonhoeffer’s death (by hanging ) in a concentration camp.
His central action, which we can learn from today, was to form small groups whose members knew and loved one another and could support one another in a fear filled, challenging times ahead. He firmly believed that in this kind of societal climate resistance could not be done on one’s own but with the strength of others.
I'll never be a Christian, but I have met a few who not only talked the talk, but walked the walk.
Carol, I agree that Bonhoeffer sets an example for how Christians should respond to the government. The newly released film may introduce him to a much wider audience now.