When it comes to news consumption, I mostly have two kinds of friends. The first backs away from any conversation about current events. “Oh, I don’t pay much attention to the news,” they say with a dismissive wave of the hand. “It’s too political for me.” I know what they mean. Many of us are … Continue reading Books Before Newsbites: Curating the News with C.S. Lewis and Dorothy Day
In 1933, a 29-year-old French social worker moved to a communist suburb southeast of Paris to begin a remarkable undertaking. Madeleine Delbrêl and the women who joined her would live Gospel-infused lives in a working-class city dominated by Marxist ideology. Madeleine's life witnesses to the grace God can grant when souls commit themselves to love … Continue reading Engagement and Love: Madeleine Delbrêl’s Mission to Marxists and the “Ordinary People of the Streets”
A weekly current events Jeopardy! competition hooked me on the news when I was a teenager. As all good teachers do in varied ways, my high school American history teacher opened a way of life to his students by helping them develop a positive habit. In his case it was the habit of keeping up … Continue reading Loving our Neighbors while Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Contemplation on the News
She never shied away from the contentions of political engagement. She practiced what she preached, responding to the wretchedness of Depression-era poverty by co-founding a movement that established a newspaper, communal farms and "Houses of Hospitality" for the homeless. She had an abortion as a young woman but would ultimately regret it and defend human … Continue reading Toward Authenticity in the Cultural Moment: Three Lessons from Dorothy Day
On the evening of April 7, 1940, two days before the Nazis invaded Sigrid Undset's homeland, the Nobel prizewinner was in Oslo speaking at a meeting of the Norwegian Students' Association. The guest of honor was Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day. Neither woman could have imagined that they'd meet again, but two nights after the … Continue reading American Exile and Return to Norway: Fascinating Facts about Sigrid Undset Part 3
Norwegian writer Sigrid Undset deserves her place among women held up as models of greatness simply for her accomplishment as the author of Kristin Lavransdatter, the medieval trilogy for which she won a Nobel Prize in 1928. But there is so much more. Part I in this series details her life up to her reception of … Continue reading Flight from Norway: Fascinating Facts about Sigrid Undset, Part 2
Social activist and Catholic convert Dorothy Day led a life of radical authenticity, using her considerable gifts as a writer on behalf of the poor she served and the faith that drove her passion. Day's writings, including her autobiography, The Long Loneliness, remind us that our words are meant to serve and give a voice … Continue reading What Dorothy Day Said We Must Talk About
