Forest lecture pays tribute to Dorothy Day
By KATE STEER
Associate News Editor
To lead a life according to the life of God is the greatest thing we can do, said Jim Forest of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship in a talk about Dorothy Day Tuesday evening.
Forest, who served in Day's Catholic Worker Houses for many years, recalled the words and life of the "troublemaker and saint."
Forest first learned of Day and the Catholic Worker movement when he was declared a conscientious objector to the Vietnam war after participating in a prayer vigil organized by Catholic Workers as a protest against the Bay of Pigs invasion. After leaving the military, Forest devoted his life to helping others in the way that Day had established.
"Her basic message was, `We are called by God to love one another,'" he said of Day.
Forest, who has written a biography of Day, said that he is glad that people today do not receive a polished version of the person he knew. Part of what made her such an inspiring person was that she had flaws and made mistakes but was willing to claim them and go back to work, he said.
"She will be not only the patron saint of the homeless and those who try to take care of them but people who lose their temper."
However, according to Forest, hospitality was a trademark of Day's Catholic Worker philosophy.
"She said that hospitality is simply practicing God's mercy to those around us," he said. "There is not only hospitality of the door, but also of the face and the heart." Hospitality includes not only taking in those who need shelter, food and clothing, but also those who are difficult to take in, including one's own enemies. This philosophy extended to the members of the movement as well.
The people who make up the Catholic Worker movement are strong and strong-willed, and every day in service is a struggle to maintain civility and one's own ideals, Forest said.
"One of the miracles of Dorothy's life is that she remained part of a conflict-torn life for nearly a half century," he said.
Perhaps what brought Day through such a dedicated and controversial life was her devotion to her religion. "While she was one of the freest persons in our society, she was also one of the most disciplined, especially in her religious life," Forest said. She didn't let a day pass without recognizing the Blessed Sacrament.
She prayed her way through many major life events from her conversion to the birth of a daughter out of wedlock to the collapse of her common-law marriage, Forest said.
Her influence on the lives of others continues today, as the Catholic Worker movement continues to work to help those in need. Forest said that every day he is reminded of her effect on his own life.
"She made me more capable of seeing beauty where I would have seen rubbish."
Day has made Forest think more about the words of Christ than anyone else, he said.
"Every time I open the door to a guest is partly because of Dorothy Day. Every time I think about things in the bright light of the gospel rather than the dim light of politics and money is partly because of Dorothy Day. Every time I try to overcome meanness and selfishness rising up in myself is partly because of Dorothy Day. Every time I resist the impulse to buy something I can get along without and use the money for some better purpose is partly thanks to Dorothy Day. Every time I try to see Christ's presence in a stranger, there again I owe a debt to Dorothy Day."
The talk was sponsored by Pax Christi.
All News Stories for Wednesday, November 15, 2000
