Updates from the Guild:

With the close of Holy Week, the Dorothy Day Guild wrapped up a full and fruitful season of Lenten activities, including a wonderful reading group led by Dr. Anne Klejment, multiple walking pilgrimages in lower Manhattan, and an incredible International Women’s Day webinar on March 8th! Our special program, entitled “In the Footsteps of Dorothy Day: Catholic Women and Social Justice” featured Sister Helen Prejean, Brenna Cussen-Anglada, Michelle Sherman, and Clare Grady, each of whom has been significantly informed and influenced by Dorothy’s own life and legacy of hospitality, nonviolence, and voluntary poverty. At one point, Clare said, “I want to acknowledge how the cause for her sainthood, Dorothy’s sainthood, has additionally legitimized the work of justice within Catholic circles.” This is one of the many reasons why we believe that working to move Dorothy's cause for canonization forward is so important, and we are grateful for each of your support in this effort. If you weren’t able to join us for the live webinar, a fully-transcribed recording is available on our YouTube channel.

This was an incredibly enlightening and inspiring conversation– our panelists, and our host, Magdalena Muñoz Pizzulic, drew connections between militarism, colonization, capital punishment, and ecological justice in a way that truly reflected how Dorothy herself was able to create a synthesis of different sources, issues, and perspectives to express a coherent vision of Gospel-based justice in her writing and in the witness of her life. We encourage you to share the recording with your friends, and also check out the event write-ups in Roundtable and Tomorrow’s American Catholic.

Most recently, on April 3rd, Good Friday, the Dorothy Day Guild co-sponsored with Manhattan University the third station as part of the annual Pax Christi Metro New York Way of the Cross, which travels across midtown Manhattan each year. The station focused on the theme of misinformation and the reflection was read by Dr. Kevin Ahern, Guild board chair, and his 10 year old son. We were very grateful to be part of this important witness for peace and opportunity to pray with hundreds of other pilgrims to commemorate Christ’s passion.

Easter-season events (and beyond!):

We have several new events to share, sponsored by the Guild and friends, coming up between now and summer, both in-person in New York and the Midwest, and online. Most immediately, on Monday, April 13th, from 7:00-8:30 PM, Dr. Kevin Ahern will be offering a talk on Dorothy, entitled “Holiness and the Lay Apostolate” at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (located at 869 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10065). 

Kevin’s lecture is part of the St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena Parish’s 2025-2026 Mystagogy series, “The Church Confronts the Modern World: Eternal Truths in a Changing World.” To view the series' entire Easter-season schedule, please visit the parish website. All lectures take place in the St. Vincent’s Lower Church.

Looking ahead to the month of May, we have a number of exciting opportunities to share with you. We’re still working out the final details on this, but Alex Avitabile, one of the officers of the Guild’s board of directors, has been working with New York City Council to have Brooklyn’s Pineapple Street (the site of Dorothy’s birthplace) ceremonially named in her honor! This has been in the works for a while, and we’re really excited. Right now, we have tentatively planned the unveiling of a sign for “Dorothy Day Way” on Saturday, May 2nd at 11:00AM, near the corner of Henry and Pineapple Streets in Brooklyn. Stay tuned to the Dorothy Day Guild website for more information– we’ll keep you posted!

We have two Manhattan walking pilgrimages scheduled for upcoming Sunday afternoons at 2:00 PM, on May 3rd, and May 17th. This is an especially beautiful time of year to walk around New York and visit some of the important sites associated with Dorothy and her lifetime of activism and hospitality, so if you haven’t joined us for a pilgrimage yet, sign up with a friend or two!

We are also sponsoring another upcoming webinar, featuring four writers who have recently authored books on Dorothy. If you’re not on the walking pilgrimage this afternoon, please join us on Sunday, May 17th from 1:30-3:00 PM Eastern for “Writing Dorothy Day: Perspectives from Four Recent Biographers” to hear from Kate Hennessy, author of Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty: An Intimate Portrait of My Grandmother, D.L. Mayfield, author of Unruly Saint: Dorothy Day's Radical Vision and Its Challenge for Our Times, and Blythe Randolph and John Loughery, co-authors of Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century. Our last webinar was such a hit, and we’re really looking forward to this one! Register using this form.

Finally, our Guild was so pleased to be invited to participate in a really exciting summer program organized by our friends at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin. The Shrine is the site of the only officially-approved Marian apparition in the United States: Mary appeared here to Servant of God Adele Brice in 1859.



This summer, to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States as a nation, the Shrine will host a novena and a series of events featuring American saints, including those still in the earlier stages of the canonization process, from July 1st-July 9th.

The schedule is still being finalized, but you can view the initial program on the “Catholic Saints of America” event page– take a sneak peek at the poster they created for Dorothy here!

Additional news:

All of us at the Dorothy Day Guild were deeply saddened to learn of the disturbing and well-substantiated accusations of sexual abuse by César Chavez, a co-founder of the United Farm Workers. We would like to share the thoughtful statements released by the United Farm Workers Foundation and by Dolores Huerta. Dorothy accompanied many victims of sexual abuse during her lifetime and was particularly sensitive to the emotional and spiritual, as well as the physical wounds that survivors carried with them. These women's courage in coming forward after so many years is commendable.

Any kind of sexual violence is an assault against the inherent dignity of the human person, which Dorothy spent her entire life proclaiming and protecting. Please join us in praying through Dorothy's intercession for the women and girls who were abused in this case, and for all those impacted by sexual violence.

Earlier this month, we also learned that the remaining buildings at Spanish Camp, the Staten Island beach community where Dorothy and other members of the Catholic Worker family spent many summers resting and offering hospitality, have been demolished. You can read more about the sale of the property and the history of Spanish Camp here. We’re sad to see this chapter of Dorothy’s history come to a close, but as a Guild, we look forward to creating more educational opportunities and programming for all who want to learn about and visit other Staten Island sites that were an important part of Dorothy’s life and formation.

Podcast and Video Recommendations:

We have a few new listening and viewing recommendations for you this month. First, Robert Ellsberg and Father Jim Martin, SJ, recently sat down for a conversation, “Catholic and Anarchist: The Spiritual Wisdom of Dorothy Day,” for Fr. Jim’s podcast, The Spiritual Life. This is warm and wide-ranging discussion that touches on a variety of topics, including the Catholic Worker as a school and crash-course on spiritual improvisation, Dorothy’s genuine interest in others and her gift for helping them find their own vocations, and her deep love for the saints, including her own unofficial canon of holy figures. Check out the recording, and read Fr. Jim’s article on their discussion here, for America.

In addition, we’d like to share two shorter videos featuring Dorothy. The first is a quick introduction to Dorothy as an activist and candidate for canonization from the University of Notre Dame’s “Journey to Sainthood” series– check it out for some archival footage and photographs of Dorothy, including an image of Father Hesburgh presenting her with the Laetare Medal in 1972, as well as some short video clips from the South Bend and other present-day Catholic Worker communities!

Finally, many thanks to Pedro, one of our members who forwarded us this clip, “Dorothy Day Gave Her Life to Those America Left Behind,” which was recently circulated by PBS for their online program “THIRTEEN”. This video is an eighteen-minute segment taken from Bill Moyers’ wonderful 1973 interview with Dorothy at St. Joseph House and the former Catholic Worker farm at Tivoli. The segment, which was re-released in honor of Women’s History Month, would be an excellent piece to share with a friend who has heard of Dorothy, but perhaps never had a chance to actually hear her speak. We encourage you to watch the full interview as well, which you can access courtesy of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting here.

Prayer requests:

Over the past several months, we have asked for your prayers on behalf of a number of friends and Guild members who have written to us, many of whom were struggling with serious illness, financial insecurity, and strained or challenging relationships. Already we have seen instances of graces and favors that the recipients credit to Dorothy’s intercession, and it is out of these requests for prayer that we hope God might eventually grant the miracle that could lead to Dorothy’s beatification. 

We have a happy update to share with you today on behalf of one of the individuals and families you prayed for, Kenzie, the young mother from Indiana whose infant daughter spent several months in the NICU last fall. Her baby is now home with her family, gaining weight, and smiling at everyone! Towards the end of March, Kenzie and her daughter’s father were married in a beautiful backyard celebration at the South Bend Catholic Worker.

Thank you all so much for your prayerful support of Kenzie and her girls, and please continue to pray for Kenzie, her husband, and all their children as they begin life together as a family of six.

Are you or someone you know in need of prayer? Submit a prayer request to the Dorothy Day Guild using this form, and we’ll add you to our prayer list! Members of our Guild commit to praying for these intentions through Dorothy’s intercession each month. It is an honor to bring your needs and concerns to the attention of a loving God with Dorothy’s help.

A few words from Dorothy:

In April of 1964, Dorothy published one of her most luminous columns for The Catholic Worker, “The Mystery of the Poor.” We’ve shared sections of this piece with you before (and it’s actually part of the summer reading collection we give to student volunteers at the South Bend Catholic Worker!), but like so much of Dorothy’s writing, more and more of its depth and subtle beauty reveals itself with time. Here, Dorothy writes about Mary Magdalene, the first person in the world to recognize the risen Christ. 

“On Easter Day, on awakening late after the long midnight services in our parish church, I read over the last chapter of the four Gospels and felt that I had received great light and understanding with the reading of them. “They have taken the Lord out of His tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him,” Mary Magdalene said, and we can say this with her in times of doubt and questioning. How do we know we believe? How do we know we indeed have faith? Because we have seen His hands and His feet in the poor around us. He has shown Himself to us in them. We start by loving them for Him, and we soon love them for themselves, each one a unique person, most special!

In that last glorious chapter of St. Luke, Jesus told His followers, “Why are you so perturbed? Why do questions arise in your minds? Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself. Touch Me and see. No ghost has flesh and bones as you can see I have.” They were still unconvinced, for it seemed to good to be true. “So He asked them, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ They offered Him a piece of fish they had cooked which He took and ate before their eyes.”

How can I help but think of these things every time I sit down at Chrystie Street or Peter Maurin Farm and look around at the tables filled with the unutterably poor who are going through their long-continuing crucifixion. It is most surely an exercise of faith for us to see Christ in each other. But it is through such exercise that we grow and the joy of our vocation assures us we are on the right path.”

Perhaps it shouldn’t surprise us that when Mary Magdalene first saw Jesus after he rose from the dead, she thought he was the gardener. Christ, a poor man during his earthly life, appeared as a common laborer after his resurrection. We can follow Mary Magdalene and the other disciples by doing what they did– actively searching for Christ in places marked by death and crucifixion, seeking him out among the poor, and then, when he reveals himself to us, offering him something to eat.

In the days after the first Easter, Christ appeared to his closest friends and followers through the Works of Mercy. It is in caring for the dead and sharing meals with the hungry that they meet and recognize the Lord. Dorothy closes this column with her final reflection, stating,

“The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him. It is the only way we have of knowing and believing in our love. The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love.”

This Easter season, we wish each of you many encounters with the risen Christ. In the days and weeks ahead, may you seek him in the poor, and when you recognize him, may he call you by your name and give you again the joy of your vocation.

In peace,

Dr. Casey Mullaney, on behalf of the Dorothy Day Guild