What is a saint? Like many words in our language, the meaning of the word "saint" has evolved. Lawrence Cunningham captures the essence of the word in his book, The Meaning of the Saints. He writes, the saints "give us the encouragement to be more self-giving, more loving, less inclined to hate, more compelled to love. They invite us, in short, to transcend ourselves." One candidate for sainthood fits the description. Dorothy Day (1897-1980) founded the Catholic Worker Movement, a lay apostolate that promotes ideals of voluntary poverty, prayer, hospitality, and nonviolence. From its humble beginnings in New York City, the movement has grown to over 185 communities across the country. Bob Gilliam of Brockport was a volunteer with the Catholic Worker and knew Day. He is a member of the guild created to promote Day's life and works. "I know of no one whose life is more profoundly or thoroughly formed by the example of Christ than Dorothy," Gilliam said. Day was born in Brooklyn. She and her family lived for a time in San Francisco and later Chicago. Day returned to New York to begin her career as a journalist. According to Gilliam, "The first assignment that she proposed was to move into an immigrant tenement on the lower East Side, allow herself no more money than the people in the building had, and report on what kind of life that allowed you to live. In a sense, that is what she did for the rest of her life: share the life of the poor, report on it, and reflect on it." Day eventually converted to Catholicism and began a period of searching for a way to unite her faith, her talents, and her radical social values. Her prayers were answered when she met Peter Maurin, a French philosopher, who urged her to start a newspaper about Catholic social teaching. The first issue of "The Catholic Worker" was published May 1, 1933. A few months later, Day opened a house of hospitality for homeless people that provided food, shelter, community, and weekly discussions on social issues. Gilliam was a college freshman when one of his teachers gave him a copy of "The Catholic Worker." "I was immediately taken with it," Gilliam said. "I started subscribing to and reading the paper, and reading books by Dorothy and Peter. I became very interested." Gilliam spent the summer of 1964 at the Catholic Worker in New York City, "and fell in love." At that time, the Worker rented a building on Christy Street near the Bowery. "The clientele that the Catholic Worker served was overwhelmingly men from the Bowery," Gilliam said. "We ran a daily soup line and had a clothing room." The Worker also rented several apartments where Gilliam and other volunteers lived with a number of otherwise homeless men. Staff members received food, board, and occasionally, pocket money. "I was a very earnest, devout young man and I was looking for people who took the Gospel seriously," Gilliam said. "I found them at 175 Christy Street, and am eternally grateful." He returned to the Worker frequently during the next 14 years. Gilliam has a sharp mind, a ready smile, and a quick wit. He describes Day in hushed, almost reverential tones. "Dorothy was an intensely serious person, and a profoundly devout person, and a rather shy person," he recalls. "She was a very religiously observant person. She went to Mass every day and she prayed the Divine Office." He believes she is a valuable role model. "I imagine young men and women of the future trying to decide how they ought to deal with questions of war, violence, and their participation," Gilliam said. "To find such a remarkably clear example as Dorothy among those who are officially approved as saints, strikes me as entirely good." The Claretians, publishers of "U.S. Catholic" magazine, first raised the issue of Day's canonization in 1983. That prompted the late Cardinal John O'Connor, then Archbishop of New York, to seek papal approval to open the cause for the beatification and canonization of Day. "After his death, it languished for a while," Gilliam said. Recently, Cardinal John Egan, Archbishop of New York, "wanted to begin again," Gilliam said. "So he called a meeting in June 2005, at the Pastoral Center in New York. He invited people who had been involved with the Worker over the years for a day of prayer, conversation, and reflection." At that meeting, Egan established a Dorothy Day Guild. The purpose of the guild is to teach others about Day, encourage people to read her books, and then reflect on her life and example. Eagan invited those in attendance to join the guild. Gilliam accepted the offer. Gilliam is well qualified for the task. He earned a bachelor's degree in theology and a master's degree in religion. His second master's degree is in library science. Since 1978, Gilliam has worked as the interlibrary loan librarian of Drake Memorial Library. He is an active member of the Brockport Newman Community. Gilliam remains somewhat involved with the Catholic Worker in New York City and periodically writes for the New York "Catholic Worker." Additionally, he has spoken several times at Saint Joseph's House of Hospitality, a Catholic Worker community in Rochester. "I think that what one learns from Catholic Worker is to turn away from abstractions and see the poor as human beings, as brothers and sisters," Gilliam said. "For me, the poor forever have a face." January 29, 2006 |
