As a materialist raised in a fairly religious Jewish family,whose attitude toward institutional religion and theology, as against individual believers and religious leaders who have played positive role in advancing peoples movements, was always indifferent at best, regardless of the religion, I must say that I was impressed by Pope Francis address to a joint session of Congress yesterday.
The ideas that he put forward were ideas that he had been expressing since he became Pope, ideas that he made him a target of the reactionaries through the world.
But his address here was to Americans and he reminded them of that Prorestant Minister, Martin Luther King who lead a great liberation movement against racism in the U.S. and won the admiration of people through the world. And, to my surprise and I am sure the members of Congress, reminded them of a woman few of them ever heard of,Dorothy Day,
I could spend a great deal discussing the life of Dorothy Day, but I will spend some time During WWI she emerged as as a radical socialist and feminist. This led to her arrest and imprisonment during the war for picketing the white house in the name of Women's Suffrage, her welcoming of the Russian Revolution and her opposition to imperialism and war.
She went went on to form close friendshops with a wide variety of people, the playwrigth Eugene O'Neill and writer Mike Gold, with whom she had a love affair, who who later became the best known Communist writer in the U.S. and two important women, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Anna Louise Strong, both of whom out of the radical movement later became important Communist leaders.
Dorothy Day converted to Catholicism later and became the founder and leader of the Catholic Worker movement, which began in 1933.
Although she accepted completely the conservative social teachings of the Cathtolic Church, including its ban on abortion(earlier she had had an abortion) she and others in the Catholic Worker movement supported the great upsurge of workers during the depression, faced attacks from the Catholic hierarchy and the removal of their newspaper from Catholic Institutions because of their militant support of strikes.
Dorothy Day of course was very much opposed to the specific philosophy of Marxism-Leninism and the CPUSA but she fought with Communists side by side in the great battles of the period, and retained relationships with prominent Communists and other radicals for the rest of her life
She opposed all forms of political repression and continued her leadership in the post WWII era, where she challenged militarism and imperialism, often very much against the wishes of the Church hierarchy in the U.S.
Recently there has been movement to make Dorothy Day a Saint. Frankly, a thought that she stood no chance, but no with the Pope in her corner, I think I will change my mind
The mass media isn't speaking about Dorothy Day today, but Bernie Sanders did yesterday in his tribute to Pope Francis. Below I am presenting it cut and paste. It also speaks eloquentlyy about what we face in the U.S. and the world today
Norman Markowitz
Why We Must Listen to Pope Francis
25 September 15
If politics must truly be at the service of the human person, it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance. Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life. I do not underestimate the difficulty that this involves, but I encourage you in this effort." - Pope Francis addressing Congress today
rothers and Sisters: I am not a theologian, an expert on the Bible, or a Catholic. I am just a U.S. senator from the small state of Vermont.
But I am emailing you today to discuss Pope Francis in the hope that we can examine the very profound lessons that he is teaching people all over this world and some of the issues for which he is advocating.
Now, there are issues on which the pope and I disagree — like choice and marriage equality — but from the moment he was elected, Pope Francis immediately let it be known that he would be a different kind of pope, a different kind of religious leader. He forces us to address some of the major issues facing humanity: war, income and wealth inequality, poverty, unemployment, greed, the death penalty and other issues that too many prefer to ignore.
He is reaching out not just to the Catholic Church. He's reaching out to people all over the world with an incredibly strong message of social justice talking about the grotesque levels of wealth and income inequality.
Pope Francis is looking in the eyes of the wealthiest people around the world who make billions of dollars, and he is saying we cannot continue to ignore the needs of the poor, the needs of the sick, the dispossessed, the elderly people who are living alone, the young people who can't find jobs. He is saying that the accumulation of money, that the worship of money, is not what life should be about. We cannot turn our backs on our fellow human beings.
He is asking us to create a new society where the economy works for all, and not just the wealthy and the powerful. He is asking us to be the kind of people whose happiness and well-being comes from serving others and being part of a human community, not spending our lives accumulating more and more wealth and power while oppressing others. He is saying that as a planet and as a people we have got to do better.
That's why I was so pleased that in his address to Congress today, Pope Francis spoke of Dorothy Day, who was a tireless advocate for the impoverished and working people in America. I think it was extraordinary that he cited her as one of the most important people in recent American history.
As the founder of the Catholic Worker newspaper, Dorothy Day organized workers to stand up against the wealthy and powerful. Pope Francis said of her today in Congress:
In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.
How much progress has been made in this area in so many parts of the world! How much has been done in these first years of the third millennium to raise people out of extreme poverty! I know that you share my conviction that much more still needs to be done, and that in times of crisis and economic hardship a spirit of global solidarity must not be lost. At the same time I would encourage you to keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They too need to be given hope. The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly and on many fronts, especially in its causes. I know that many Americans today, as in the past, are working to deal with this problem.
The fact that the pope singled out Dorothy Day — a fierce advocate in the fight for economic justice — as one of the leaders he admires most is quite remarkable. We are living in a nation which worships the acquisition of money and great wealth, but turns its back on those in need. We are admiring people with billions of dollars, while we ignore people who sleep out on the streets. That must end.
Dorothy Day fought this fight, and as Pope Francis says, we must continue it. We need to move toward an economy which works for all, and not just the few.
We have so much poverty in a land of plenty. Together, we can work to make our country more fair for everybody.
I am glad that you are with me in this fight.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
