Dorothy Day: Love in Action by Patrick Jordan

Abstract

Reviewed by: Dorothy Day: Love in Action by Patrick Jordan Francis Sicius Dorothy Day: Love in Action. By Patrick Jordan. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016. 132pp. $12.95. So many fine writers have documented the life of Dorothy Day in detail, that one might be tempted to ask “why another?” But the significance of (now) “Servant of God” Dorothy Day goes far beyond the objective facts of her life. Many would argue that her most important contributions were spiritual and intellectual and in that realm there are infinite possibilities for interpretation. In his short and very personal biography, Patrick Jordan has given the reader insight into those dimensions of Dorothy Day’s life. This brief work has little room for a detailed story of her life. Rather Jordan focuses on Dorothy’s spiritual and intellectual attributes that most affected him while he worked at the Catholic Worker and served as the editor of the paper for twelve years. And by relying heavily on quotes from Dorothy’s own work he gives the reader the opportunity to hear Dorothy explain in her own voice significant waystations on her spiritual and intellectual journey. Adding to the personal nature of this work, Jordan also makes liberal use of comments by those who knew her well. They provide insightful snippets of Dorothy’s personality at various points in her life, from her years as a young radical writer up to her last days at Maryhouse. From the first pages, the reader has a clear preview of the personal nature of the book. Quoting the engraver Fritz Eichenberg, Jordan describes Dorothy as a person who “had a nose for fragrances, an ear for music—from Brahms to Joan Baez—and an eye for nature” (6). Following this introduction, the very chapter titles (e.g. “Principles and Convergences,” “Catholicity and Lady Poverty,” “Peace and the Primacy of the Spiritual,”) hint at the personal nature of this work. In a chapter entitled “Conversions,” Jordan allows Day to explain that very personal event in her own words. The reader learns that “the odors of the church,” appealed to her “as did the candles and the stained glass.” He reveals that according to Dorothy a principle attraction to the church was that it took into account “body and soul, all the senses. Even ‘telling your beads’ was part of it” (39). Jordan also [End Page 80] lets Dorothy describe in her own words the importance of the retreat in her life. Commenting on the famous 1943 retreats led by the French Canadian Jesuit Father Onesimus Lacouture, Dorothy wrote, “It was about the best education I’ve had in the faith. And it was the teaching I expected when I became a Catholic” (86). Jordan also gives Dorothy’s voice to other major events that affected her life as well her world. Included among others are comments on Peter Maurin, pacifism, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Vietnam War, and the United Farm Workers struggle. Jordan assumes that the reader is already familiar with the particulars of Day’s life. But with Day’s own words and those of people who knew her well, he contributes reflections on some of the most notable details of her remarkable life. While not a comprehensive biography, it is a noteworthy attempt to reveal a portion of the soul and mind of Dorothy as Jordan perceived it. It is a difficult space for a biographer to occupy, but he does it with such sensitivity and clarity that the reader leaves this book with a feeling of knowing Dorothy Day a bit better. Francis Sicius St. Thomas University (Miami, FL) Copyright © 2017 American Catholic Historical Society