H/T: Catholic Anarchy
The Christian Radical reported today that Tamar Hennessey, the daughter of Dorothy Day, died today after recently suffering a stroke. The Radical also passed along this 2003 NCR article about Tamar.
The NCR article that Michael linked to above is excellent. I had always been curious about Tamar and how she felt as a woman who was actively part of the Catholic Worker Movement but most importantly how she felt about her mother who was so active in the Church. It is a very interesting article, so I would recommend you to read it. May Tamar rest in peace.
One of the things that has long saddened and puzzled me is that so manyl of the children of the great pioneer lay apostles of the early 20th century left the faith. Tamar, Frank Sheed & Maisie Ward’s son, Catherine Doherty’s son – all left the faith as adults
Part of it may have been the times (the 60′s!).
Part of it may have been having mothers who were living such untraditional lives in an era where it was expected that a woman’s entire live was spent taking care of her home and family (Catherine Doherty’s son George longed for a “normal” home and reveled in the 6 months he spent with a traditional Jewish family where the mother was always home. George was also abused by a priest and did not come to terms with it all until after his mother’s death when he read her letters and realized how much she had loved him and struggled.)
Part of it was the poverty and feeling odd compared to other family about you that others have mentioned.
Part was – who knows?
Another odd dynamic: sometimes the daughters were not given the education that their famous mothers had had. Tamar studied with Ada Bethune (which was quite an education in itself) but wasn’t encouraged to go to college and married in her teens. The same happened with Maisie’ Ward’s daughters who were not apparently encourage to go to college either – even though her sons were. One daughter became the domestic main-stay of the household while her never-very-domestic mother spent most of her time writing and lecturing,
I’m not criticizing or second guessing these wonderful Christians, who were struggling mightily to follow God and made many sacrifices to do so. I’m just saying I suppose that in the midst of following a vocation, we need to be attentive to the unique hearts and spirits of our children. What might work fine for us or for one child might be destructive for another.
My friends who seem to have this exceptionally well are very playful and imaginative and funny as well as devout and seriously engaged with their faith There is something about all that joyful fizz that captures and heals a child’s heart, I think.
Sherry,
Those are good points. That article that Michael linked to from NCR gave Tamar’s insights about her life and her faith:
I haven’t really found out much about Tamar’s life or what happened to her later on… did she leave the faith? I read somewhere that her husband left her with eight children and that he had some kind of mental illness and was perhaps tired of the intense labor they had at the farms. It also said that Dorothy Day was worried about her daughter and the poverty she had to endure… it is really sad, actually :(
One wonders if the ideal or vision of the “Catholic Worker Movement” was not in reality achievable. It would seem very romantic to start a Farming Commune but in reality it is 100x more difficult than anyone can imagine — especially if you’ve never worked on a farm. I wouldn’t be surprised if daughter simply got worn out and became disillusioned with the so-called “vision” of the Catholic Worker Movement. One could easily lapse in the practice of their faith especially if they put their faith in a movement. And reading the NCR article, it sounds like the women received the burden of the labor as it quotes someone saying “the men were off saving the world” while the women worked at home under difficult conditions.
My biggest criticism of the Catholic Worker Movement is that never has it put itself under the guidance of the Church. If you look at their FAQ about starting a “House” there is nothing in there about contacting the local bishop of the diocese, nothing about having a priest of the diocese as a spiritual director, etc. It is no wonder that the Movement ran into such difficulties. It was doomed to fail from the beginning.
It was doomed to fail from the beginning.
Doomed to fail? You should see what the Houses of Hospitality actually do. It is through their fruits that you know whether something “fails” or not. You should see what Casa Juan Diego does for the immigrants here in Houston and how Cardinal DiNardo and the Archdiocese in general endorses it.
With regard to the farms, even Dorothy Day acknowledged the difficulty of running one and, as you pointed out, by people who have never been in touch with farming before. The farms are not, however, the totality of the Movement. Once again, you should see what Casa Juan Diego, just to name one, does for the immigrants in this city.
Dorothy Day said that one does not need permission from a Bishop or a diocese to perform the corporal works of mercy and she is absolutely right. That is how she and Peter Maurin understood the Houses of Hospitality to be–a place where the corporal works of mercy would be performed. With regard to the spiritual direction, I’m not familiar with what the Houses of Hospitality are doing nowadays, but in the first years of its incipience, the CWM had priests that directed retreats for the Workers and those at the farms. There were always priests involved with the Movement to one extent or another. I think Michael I. mentioned that as well and he may be more familiar with contemporary Houses. I know that many priests of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston are intimately related to Casa Juan Diego or Houston Catholic Worker.
Katerina,
The quality of the Houses varies greatly from location to location. While it is true that you don’t need permission to perform the spiritual works of mercy, anytime you have a “movement” there is always a danger of it running into serious problems without proper guidance from a higher spiritual authority (in this case the local bishop).
Well, even those “movements” that have permission from local bishop run into problems such as Opus Dei, which St. Josemaria even called an “unorganized organization.”
Greg,
Most lay apostolates establish themselves and conduct themselves independently of the local bishop.
Can you name a Catholic Worker house in the U.S. that does not follow the local bishop, is at odds with the local bishop or deliberately avoids the guidance of a bishop? Our local house, Casa Juan Diego, works very closely with the Archdiocese and is a frequent host of our auxiliary bishop. Our Archdiocese also sends some of its seminarians to Casa Juan Diego for service/pastoral experience.
Catholic Worker, from my viewpoint, is a resounding success insofar as it has brought so many Catholics deeper into living their faith through action. I cannot even begin to describe what Dorothy Day’s life, thought and witness has done for my own faith.
I wonder though if the children of these Catholic workers turned out to be “less faithful” than their parents because as they were growing up they felt as though they had to compete with their parents’ ministry for their time. I can’t imagine being a mother and being a Catholic Worker at the same time. For me, it was an either-or situation: either be a Catholic Worker or a wife and a mother. I’m sure many people do it, I just can’t see how they manage?
I wonder though if the children of these Catholic workers turned out to be “less faithful” than their parents because as they were growing up they felt as though they had to compete with their parents’ ministry for their time.
Parents can raise their children in a steady, faithful Catholic environment, but at the end of the day, the choice of faith is entirely personal and free on the part of the grown child.
Michael,
Pull up the website of the Des Moines Catholic Worker movement and you’ll see a story about two Catholic Workers who try to make a citizens arrest of Karl Rove at one of his lectures. They are themselves arrested before they can arrest Karl Rove. I am sure the bishop emeritus of Des Moines (Bishop Charron) would not have given permission of such an action.
Or go to the LA Catholic worker home page and click on “Liturgy”…um…yeah.
Another of the sites (can’t remember which one) had a link to the Communist Party website. Probably not on the advice of the local bishop.
Greg
Well, what if Karl Rove should have been arrested? Would not such an action then be a true work of social action?
And links to a community party website — so what?! Logic says nothing comes from “links.”
I’m not criticizing or second guessing these wonderful Christians, who were struggling mightily to follow God and made many sacrifices to do so. I’m just saying I suppose that in the midst of following a vocation, we need to be attentive to the unique hearts and spirits of our children. What might work fine for us or for one child might be destructive for another.
“The life of a Catholic Worker is a lot easier if you’re single.” — Larry Holben
I’ve thought of the Catholic Worker life as something akin to the Franciscans — undertaking voluntary poverty in solidarity with the poor may be beneficial when done for yourself, but it may not necessarily be the best choice to make FOR your children, when you’re also charged with providing financially / materially for your wife and family.
(This is not to say you can’t — as parents — teach your kids the virtue of simplicity and detachment from material possessions, keeping up with the latest fashion, etc. or cultivating similar perspectives).
Here is another article on the evolution of the Catholic Worker ideal to encompass families: Finding family at the Catholic Worker
Pull up the website of the Des Moines Catholic Worker movement and you’ll see a story about two Catholic Workers who try to make a citizens arrest of Karl Rove at one of his lectures. They are themselves arrested before they can arrest Karl Rove. I am sure the bishop emeritus of Des Moines (Bishop Charron) would not have given permission of such an action.
That the bishop would not have given diocesan approval for this direct action, though, does not mean he could have come up with some ecclesiological reason to oppose it. The fact that the CWs were arrested has nothing to do with the legitimacy of the action. Christians often do things that are prophetic that run against the grain of society and of law. Dorothy Day herself was involved in such actions. This is ONCE AGAIN a case of mistaking lawfulness for orthodoxy. The two are not the same thing.
Indeed, the CW movement is not a centralized movement, and while the different communities flow from the same foundational vision, there is some variation among them. There are farming communities as well as urban communities. And the CW is hardly a “failure.”
Politcratius,
You might want to consider reading the 1992 book Voices of the Catholic Worker, if you haven’t already. That presents an honest view of the CW in which many of the Catholic worker communities maintain fidelity of the traditional Church, but many of them do “not follow the local bishop,” or are “at odds with the local bishop or deliberately avoids the guidance of a bishop”
Also, everyone trots out CJD whenever they need an example of how the Catholic Worker hasn’t lapsed in its identity, but the fact that that seems to be the only CW house that people can name that’s still faithful to the Church probably speaks volumes. I applaud the Zwick’s for what they have accomplished, but it really isn’t that simple.
“that should read fidelity to traditionally understood Catholicism”
…but many of them do “not follow the local bishop,” or are “at odds with the local bishop or deliberately avoids the guidance of a bishop”
We have to be careful here, though, Adam, because as we all know, not all bishops are the same. Some of them are rabidly americanist, patriotic, etc., and many also do not give much thought to the poor or to the socio-political mission of the Church, and this obviously comes into conflict with the charism of the Catholic Worker movement. If I were a CW living in a diocese with a bishop like the ones I described above, I too would not seek out the guidance of the bishop, not for the sake of snubbing his authority but because his leadership would not mean much to what I would feel my calling would be.
It is also important to remember that the CW is orthodox but that it does challenge and critique the “traditional” Church as well. The “traditional” Church has often aligned itself with power, and in addition, the Church in america has sadly neglected its prophetic function to a large degree by remaining silent on so many issues. The CW movement very much challenges the “traditional” Church which tends to avoid conflict, while remaining orthodox.
…the fact that that seems to be the only CW house that people can name that’s still faithful to the Church probably speaks volumes.
Frankly, though, many of us can only name one or two specific Catholic Worker communities. We identify CJD as one of the “faithful” ones, but can we name any that are clearly out of bounds? Are any of us that familiar with the movement to know about the details of the many communities that exist?
I think Pope Benedict offers some very wise words from Deus Caritas Est that would be good to follow if you’re starting or operating a CW house:
33. With regard to the personnel who carry out the Church’s charitable activity on the practical level, the essential has already been said: they must not be inspired by ideologies aimed at improving the world, but should rather be guided by the faith which works through love (cf. Gal 5:6). Consequently, more than anything, they must be persons moved by Christ’s love, persons whose hearts Christ has conquered with his love, awakening within them a love of neighbour. The criterion inspiring their activity should be Saint Paul’s statement in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: “the love of Christ urges us on” (5:14). The consciousness that, in Christ, God has given himself for us, even unto death, must inspire us to live no longer for ourselves but for him, and, with him, for others. Whoever loves Christ loves the Church, and desires the Church to be increasingly the image and instrument of the love which flows from Christ. The personnel of every Catholic charitable organization want to work with the Church and therefore with the Bishop, so that the love of God can spread throughout the world. By their sharing in the Church’s practice of love, they wish to be witnesses of God and of Christ, and they wish for this very reason freely to do good to all.
Henry,
Ok Henry. Why don’t you add a link to this site to the Priestly Society of St Josaphat and the work they are doing among Ukranian Rite Catholics?
Something tells me the majority of CW houses are not concerned with working in conjunction with their ordinary, which as Pope Benedict XVI mentions, is something to be greatly desired. There is not wrong with performing autonomous corporeal works of mercy individually, but you have potential to run into trouble when that is the mission of the organization and there are no checks and balances. Our actions are to be guided by the Church in more situations than not.
Regarding wayward CWs: I think it is like anything else one does, you have to look into your local community and see if they are solid. In college my roomy was headed off to Nebraska to work at a CW house and discovered that the person running it had left the Catholic Church and had become and Episcopalian priestess. She didn’t go. So, yes ,there are always groups that come and go, some are more solid than others.
Michael,
Traditional was a poor choice of words, I was typing in a hurry. I suppose I meant “traditional” as in “normative” but I was really in a hurry, so I probably didn’t think it through all that much.
Here’s my rub though, Michael. If “not all bishops are the same,” but are united by some kind structure. Yet you claim that “that the CW is orthodox,” but the Catholic Worker isn’t monolithic at all. (Again, I’d refer you to the book I mentioned above) That seems like a methodological double standard to me. It also raises a hairier issue of who gets to be the “gatekeeper” or Orthodoxy. I don’t think that it would be controversial to suggest that it is the Catholic Church, but if diverse views in the unstructured Catholic Worker movement deviate from this, when does the Catholic Worker become unorthodoxy? When these views reach 51% of the Catholic Worker movement? 75%? How do evaluate any claim about the Catholic Worker as a whole, as it has no structure whatsoever?
On your second point, by the way, I would suggest that the “Catholic Worker” house here in Pittsburgh is one. They seem to want to be listed on all the Catholic Worker online directories, etc, but insist on calling themselves a “small commune.” Their webpage makes almost no mention of anything even slightly faith-based, and their blog has an entry which insinuates that Benedict XVI was implicit in Iraq war. So I think I can name at least one.
“implicit” should read “complicit.” I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight!
Something tells me the majority of CW houses are not concerned with working in conjunction with their ordinary, which as Pope Benedict XVI mentions, is something to be greatly desired.
What is this “something”? Could it be a personal prejudice?
That’s not likely, but possible I suppose. I quite like the Catholic Worker movement and what it stands for, but in all my contact and conversations with Catholic Workers, from perhaps 5-6 different communities, none of the qualities which Pope Benedict mentions have been given high priority.
I said what I did because that’s my experience of the CW. Obviously I haven’t properly researched the matter completely, but I don’t think it’s a hasty generalization.
I quite like the Catholic Worker movement and what it stands for, but in all my contact and conversations with Catholic Workers, from perhaps 5-6 different communities, none of the qualities which Pope Benedict mentions have been given high priority.
“None” of the qualities. Wow. I have found quite the opposite through my contacts and conversations. In fact, even that tiny passage you provide from Deus Caritas Est, which in itself does not communicate the heart of Part II of the encyclical, seems to speak to the specific intention and action of Catholic Worker. Perhaps you can elaborate more fully using the encyclical in question (in its entirety) and solid evidence from CW (beyond anecdotal evidence).
1. I said none of the qualities have been “given high priority”, not that they were overlooked completely.
2. To clarify, the section I quoted from was from Part II, “Caritas: The Practice of Love by the Church as a ‘Community of Love’”, subsection “Those responsible for the Church’s charitable activity”.
I wasn’t tried to communicate the heart of Part II, so I’m not sure why you point out that I didn’t do so. My intent was not to talk about that section at length but rather list some qualifications that Benedict proposes for people doing charitable work within the Church. What exactly do you want me to utilize from the encyclical that’s applicable to what we’re discussing? (seriously, I’m asking)
The part I quoted speaks to the intention of the Catholic Worker, for sure, but the action in terms of cooperating with the ordinary? That’s debatable.
I’m making an argument based on my experiences talking with Catholic Workers. Also, if you take a look at the Aims and Means of the Catholic Worker online, you’ll find brief references to the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Roman Canon, but there is nothing that mentions accomplishing all this through the Church and the local Bishop.
Furthermore, of the 35 or so CW’s I’ve been acquainted with, at least a third weren’t even Catholic. Please tell me how a non-Catholic is going to work in conjunction with the Magisterium?
Why are you so defensive? I’m not making random accusations about the CW; these are my experiences. Each of us has different experiences with different people, so relax.
1. I said none of the qualities have been “given high priority”, not that they were overlooked completely.
A point I asked you to defend.
My intent was not to talk about that section at length but rather list some qualifications that Benedict proposes for people doing charitable work within the Church. What exactly do you want me to utilize from the encyclical that’s applicable to what we’re discussing? (seriously, I’m asking)
Well, first you mentioned “qualities.” Now you mention “qualifications.” Which is it? I assume you mean qualities. Which qualities from Deus Caritas Est, which are outlined in far more sections than that which you quote, are low in priority with regard to the Catholic Worker movement (seriously, I’m asking).
you’ll find brief references to the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Roman Canon, but there is nothing that mentions accomplishing all this through the Church and the local Bishop.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to prove here. You said that you didn’t think CW’s were “concerned with working in conjunction with their ordinary.” Are you basing this judgment strictly on silence rather than any positive evidence? If so, I think such a judgment does not withstand the scrutiny of honest reason. Rather, one, at worst, would have to be agnostic on the question. Perhaps it is worth noting that most lay apostolates begin, develop and function independently of the bishop, yet this does not mean that these apostolates are “not concerned” with working in conjunction with that bishop. Independence is not synonymous with separation or division. What would be troubling and, indeed, lacking in the “qualities” described by Pope Benedict XVI would be a lay apostolate that deliberately and obstinately refused to submit to a local ordinary. I repeat what I askied above: Which CW house has done so?
Furthermore, of the 35 or so CW’s I’ve been acquainted with, at least a third weren’t even Catholic. Please tell me how a non-Catholic is going to work in conjunction with the Magisterium?
It seems now that you have shifted from describing Catholic Worker houses to Catholic Workers themselves, which changes things. Is it unusual to find a non-Catholic participating in a Catholic apostolate? Does one or several non-Catholics working within a Catholic apostolate cause that apostolate to be out of conjunction with the local bishop? Would a non-Catholic working in a local St. Vincent de Paul group cause the group itself to shift away from a bishop? Unless you have exclusively non-Catholics founding and operating Catholic Worker houses (which, I think, would be unusual and extraordinary given the name and spirit of the movement), I don’t think your comment here means anything.
Why are you so defensive? I’m not making random accusations about the CW; these are my experiences. Each of us has different experiences with different people, so relax.
Not defensive at all. Just asking you to defend your sweeping judgments on the viability of the CW’s catholicity and the tendency of CW houses to misappropriate or mis-prioritize Pope Benedict XVI’s “qualities.” Relax, we’re just having a discussion.
In my experience with CWs, particularly in the D.C. area, I have found that they are often rather lacking in knowledge of Catholicism and even in the philosophy/writings of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. There was a time when I considered joining a house in the area, but I cannot express how great was my dismay at finding out that many of the people who called themselves Catholic Workers were admittedly there because it was free housing and they “liked to protest things” and certainly not because they were Catholic or even had a particular desire to Work (I capitalize work in deference to the notion that Work, for Maurin and Day, was always to be understood as hand-in-hand with Christian Love).
I once asked some of them about how prayer was integrated into the house (at Day’s CW, for instance, the rosary was prayed as a community every day) and got some rather various responses. I recall something rather generic about “praying to God all of the time when we need something” and one of them mentioning that he was sort of into Buddhism and meditation.
(Please note: this was years ago, and could very well have changed in the meantime–I am not making a blanket statement about all CWs, nor about whoever might be at some of the local houses now, just relating my personal experience. There are many devout and good people who are involved in various ways with the houses around here, but I am speaking only of those people who called themselves Catholic Workers, in that they lived in the houses. Also, I should note that some of the older members of the house seemed more or less devout, although at least one of them often attended “house masses” led by a Fransiscan that distributed the bread before the consecration…)
I should note, though, that I have also never read anything from Day or Maurin that suggested that the “commune farms” were ever meant to be seen as a permanent institution. Rather, they were supposed to help teach young couples and individuals about sustainability and distributism, as well as how to sanctify work, with the assumption that they would carry these lessons with them into their own families. There was never any intentional attempt to dissolve or discredit the family as the basic structure of Catholic society. Rather, the understanding was that our society had gotten so far away from the society that the Church, in love and faithfulness, wants for her members to have, that these sorts of “movements” had to take place to help get our culture re-aligned with the truth.
Unfortunately, for me, it does seem that the intellectual legacy of the CWs is more reliable and faithful than their practical legacy. But, I am an idealist, and I have always loved this Easy Essay from Maurin, a summary of the CW movement intertwined with history:
When the Irish scholars
decided to lay the foundations
of medieval Europe,
they established: Centers of Thought
in all the cities of Europe as far as Constantinople,
where people could look for thought
so they could have light.
Houses of Hospitality
where Christian charity were exemplified.
Agricultural Centers where they combined
(a) Cult—
that is to say Liturgy
(b) with Culture—
that is to say Literature
(c) with Cultivation—
that is to say Agriculture.
it is interesting that you mention the daughters of maise ward and frank sheed. in 1971 i was introduced to her by dorothy day as another college drop out. dorothy was a bit sarcastic ine her tone. i would think maise would have encouraged her daughters to attend college.