These diary entries written by Dorothy Day in 1948 provide an intimate look into Day's personal life as well as essential background for understanding the Catholic Worker movement, which she found
These diary entries written by Dorothy Day in 1948 provide an intimate look into Day's personal life as well as essential background for understanding the Catholic Worker movement, which she founded. In this book, Day writes about all facets of her life. Yet whether describing her visits to her daughter's farm or the writings of the saints, a common theme emerges, namely, the gifts of God's love and our need to respond to them with personal and social transformation. The concerns of the Catholic Worker movement are no less vital in our day: the disenfranchised poor, the benefits of the meaningful work, the significance of family, the dangers of increasing commercialism and secularism, the decline of moral standards, and the importance of faith. Available for the first time since it was originally published, this edition includes a foreword by Michael O. Garvey and an introduction by Mark and Louise Zwick that gives an overview of Day's early life and her commitment to the Catholic worker movement.
Commonweal
"This 1948 book is full of high-grade ore and some unforgettable passages that demonstrate not only Day's gripping reportage but her luminous humanity and spirit. . . . We cannot but learn from her many pilgrimages, and this 1948 collection, circumscribed and limited though it may be, reveals something essential and timelessly challenging about her."
Expository Times
"Dorothy Day, a putative twentieth-century saint of American Catholics, founder of the Catholic Worker movement, has bequeathed to posterity diary entries for 1948. Accompanied as they are by an introductory setting-of-the-scene chapter, they constitute a searing critique of facets of modern western society and culture, allied to a relentless hopeful resolve that refused to be daunted, and a love of the church triumphantly surviving clear-eyed recognition of its warts. Here is a rebuke to complacency, completely devoid of sentimentality, and a challenge to action."
New Oxford Review
"Happily, Eerdmans has brought Dorothy Day's On Pilgrimage back into print. If you are only going to read one book by Dorothy Day, read this one. It is likely the best introduction available to her ideas and character."
Publishers Weekly
"This collection . . . offers an intimate glimpse into Day's life and work. . . Whether she's writing about a visit to her daughter's farm or her work with the poor, Day locates the gift of God's love in every moment."
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