Portraits of the Catholic Faith

Kroc Institute hosts photo exhibit to highlight the life and work of would-be saint Dorothy Day

Dorothy Dark / A&C Editor / The USD Vista

In 1897, Dorothy Day was born in New York City. At the time, most were unaware of the great impact her work would eventually have on the Catholic faith and modern social activism. Years of honest conversation gave way to a lifelong career that carried out the Catholic Worker Movement’s mission to “live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ.”

This past week, the Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice opened their most recent photo exhibit, which remains on display in the Kroc School Fine Art Gallery.  “Love is the Measure: Photos of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement” brings to life the context of Day’s work during the later half of the mid-twentieth century.

“She’s my favorite Catholic” is one of the first things mentioned by the gallery attendant. The small room is tucked in the back of the IPJ, just next to the sunlit meditation area. The size of the space mimics the quaint comfort of Peter Maurin’s farmhouse, which is featured in a number of the pictures on display. The collection includes images captured by Vivian Cherry in the midst of the Catholic Worker Movement, which was conceptualized by Day and Peter Maurin in 1933.

Photos like “Tenth Birthday Party for Dorothy Day’s Granddaughter Becky Hennessy at Peter Maurin Farm” from 1955 capture an intimacy between Day and her kin which brings her characteristic warmth closer to the viewer. This is a consistent theme throughout the series, and Vivian Cherry’s brilliance is clear in other images such as “Three Little Girls in Harlem,” circa 1945 and “Dorothy Day in her Bedroom at Peter Maurin Farm,” taken 10 years later.

The New York-born photographer was drawn to Day through their shared experience of living on the outskirts of society and their commitment to creating honest work. Her admiration for Day is apparent in the candid images of human interaction as well as portraits of Day. These are especially moving, as an aged woman’s grace is captured in images from very personal locations.

The pictures, in or out of the context of Day’s life, are a stunning collection of moments frozen by Cherry’s hand.

Though the images are fascinating on their own, the story of Day and her work in the Catholic faith adds greatly to the quality of the exhibit. She was a woman deeply committed to sharing her understanding of God’s love with the world.

Her work emerged from a commitment grounded in Catholic liturgy, characterized by charity and advocacy.    She experienced the world in all its beauty and terror before devoting herself to the Catholic faith. Day’s commitment to amplifying her voice, as well as those surrounding, was clear in her writing and ministry. Her conversion catalyzed the depth of her work as she fought for justice on behalf of the impoverished communities she lived within.

Beginning with work in journalism, Day’s attention soon turned to relentless activism on part of the meek she believed will someday inherit the earth. In the midst of her work, she encountered countless people who were changed greatly by the love she insisted on showing to all.

In Daniel Berrigan’s “Zen Poem for Dorothy Day,” he writes of her wisdom in saying: “Children die, men grow sick, the aged fall under a stigma of frost.” His blunt verse is followed by, “And what is that, to you or me, but the turn of the wheel, but the way of the world, but the gateway to paradise?” The poem touches on her understanding, sculpted by her Catholic faith alongside her knowledge of what God’s love could look like, and it bears resemblance to the serenity that Day held within.

Day lived out her reading of scripture by digging at the heels of injustice through peaceful protest and demonstrating her compassion and her refusal to be silenced. When Day received word that she was being considered for sainthood she responded, “Don’t dismiss me so easily.”

Though gentle in her treatment of others, there was nothing gentle about her advocacy for change. The persistence with which she made her voice heard in saying, “the only solution is love” made her an example of Catholicism at its most divine, and the photo exhibit at the back of the IPJ at the University of San Diego pays this homage.