

Little did I know then that we were starting a corresponding friendship that would span nearly 30 years. Later, I e-mailed Jim via his US publisher and he responded. When I got back to the car, I found it had been signed by the author. "Will this do?"įor £2 he sold me Forest's book, A pictorial biography of Thomas Merton.

His hand went to the bottom of a stack of books on a nearby table and pulled out a book. Opening the door, I called out to the owner "Have you any books about the American monk, Thomas Merton?" Running back to the car late on a Saturday afternoon in a bitter cold January dusk, I came to the bookshop. I first met Jim Forest through a second-hand bookshop in Brighton, England. She would have liked the song “Rebel Jesus”.Within a few days of each other two resonant voices have been lost - that of Christian writer Jim Forest, who died this past January 13, and that of the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who died on January 22. She welcomed all such experiences as yet more opportunities to live as Christ lived. She was even shot at as she worked for civil rights. She was imprisoned for her beliefs more than a few times and at times her own Church tried to silence her. She tried to love her enemies.ĭorothy was persecuted. But, more than anything else, she became a Christ-like presence in our midst. Catholic Worker homes can be found throughout the United States to this day.ĭorothy also became a prolific writer, in part through her newspaper. After her conversion she and Peter Maurin founded the Catholic Worker movement, opening homes to the marginalized, offering meals to the starving. But then Dorothy found a center for herself and converted to Catholicism.Įven in her “lost years” Dorothy was drawn to help the poor.

The first part of Dorothy Day’s life is the story of a lost soul - alcohol abuse, an abortion, suicide attempts, another child out of wedlock. I trust that someday soon the Catholic Church will decalre Dorothy Day a saint (even though she did not like being called a saint).
