Books in Brief: Breaking Bread

Breaking Bread: The Catholic Worker and the Origin of Catholic Radicalism in America, by Mel Piehl (Temple University, 296 pp., $19.95). This May Day the Catholic Worker celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. For 47 years the Catholic Worker movement—which included the newspaper, some utopian farms, and Houses of Hospitality for the destitute in dozens of cities—received direction from Dorothy Day. With the help of Peter Maurin, co-founder of the movement, Miss Day planted within American Catholicism the radical seed of European Christian social thought. The result was a small but significant movement that blended anarchism, works of mercy, unionism, pacifism, orthodox Catholicism, spiritual disciplines, identification with the poor, and absolute dedication to Christian perfection. Everyone, from Michael Harrington to T. S. Eliot, respected Dorothy Day. This book locates the importance of Catholic radicalism and evokes (sometimes without fully exploring) its many paradoxes. For example, as an anarchist and pacifist, Miss Day forswore coercion, but she also gave vigorous support to labor unions and government transfers to the needy, both of which rely on coercion to pursue justice. Or, try as the workers might to follow the “radical Gospel” alone, the utopian farms and Houses of Hospitality inevitably introduced a sociological (in tension with the religious) principle of authority. The uncompromising aspiration to Christian perfection is the source of the Catholic Worker movement’s spiritual strength and political weakness. But compromises with spiritual purity have been made by Catholic radicals at least since 1960, especially in the ever-stronger peace movement, and the compromises infect Piehl’s book. Thus the sympathy of Thomas Merton and the current Catholic Worker for revolutionary violence goes unmentioned or uncriticized. As for the paradoxes of spiritual life, no Christian escapes or finally resolves them; he chooses a set of paradoxes and lives with them. The resolute attempt of Dorothy Day and her followers to integrate the social, religious, and political significance of Catholicism will remain a challenging and disturbing ideal for all Christians, especially American Catholics, including those who dissent from Miss Day’s views.

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Daniel E. Ritchie

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Breaking Bread: The Catholic Worker and the Origin of Catholic Radicalism in America, by Mel Piehl (Temple University, 296 pp., $19.95). This May Day the Catholic Worker celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. For 47 years the Catholic Worker movement—which included the newspaper, some utopian farms, and Houses of Hospitality for the destitute in dozens of cities—received direction from Dorothy Day. With the help of Peter Maurin, co-founder of the movement, Miss Day planted within American Catholicism the radical seed of European Christian social thought. The result was a small but significant movement that blended anarchism, works of mercy, unionism, pacifism, orthodox Catholicism, spiritual disciplines, identification with the poor, and absolute dedication to Christian perfection. Everyone, from Michael Harrington to T. S. Eliot, respected Dorothy Day. This book locates the importance of Catholic radicalism and evokes (sometimes without fully exploring) its many paradoxes. For example, as an anarchist and pacifist, Miss Day forswore coercion, but she also gave vigorous support to labor unions and government transfers to the needy, both of which rely on coercion to pursue justice. Or, try as the workers might to follow the “radical Gospel” alone, the utopian farms and Houses of Hospitality inevitably introduced a sociological (in tension with the religious) principle of authority. The uncompromising aspiration to Christian perfection is the source of the Catholic Worker movement’s spiritual strength and political weakness. But compromises with spiritual purity have been made by Catholic radicals at least since 1960, especially in the ever-stronger peace movement, and the compromises infect Piehl’s book. Thus the sympathy of Thomas Merton and the current Catholic Worker for revolutionary violence goes unmentioned or uncriticized. As for the paradoxes of spiritual life, no Christian escapes or finally resolves them; he chooses a set of paradoxes and lives with them. The resolute attempt of Dorothy Day and her followers to integrate the social, religious, and political significance of Catholicism will remain a challenging and disturbing ideal for all Christians, especially American Catholics, including those who dissent from Miss Day’s views.