When I started the Digest back in August 2004, I had several purposes. The first was to give online exposure to the type of articles found in the Catholic Worker newspaper. The great Catholic Worker Movement web site was up at that time, but seemed mostly useful as a reference resource about the movement. I didn’t notice other people providing an ongoing CW perspective. So I figured I’d provide summaries of Catholic Worker articles and provide people with ways of either subscribing to the newspaper or accessing the archives at Marquette University.

In 2009, there are a lot of places to explore an ongoing Catholic Worker perspective on current events. Check out Pie and Coffee or any of the other numerous CW blogs. Or check out CW newspapers from Houston, Los Angeles, or other areas.  There is also Frank Codaro’s seemingly comprehensive email list of all things Catholic Worker. I suspect that if you e-mail him at frank.cordaro@gmail.com, he’d be willing to add you to his list.

Aside from exposing more people to CW thinking, I started a blog for the digest for these reasons:

• I want to be able to update the digest from anywhere.
• I’m not as timely as I’d like to be, so offering a RSS feed via blogger might make the Digest easier to use and find updates.
• I hope that if anyone actually reads the digest, we can start having discussions about the material in the Worker. I personally only know one other Catholic Worker subscriber, but we don’t get together much. I’d really like to hear your thoughts about what the NY house writes.
• Even if no one else comments, having the comments turned on will let me provide comments on specific issues while not sacrificing the “just the facts, ma’am” tone of the main entries.

Well, I’ve never really been able to keep the Digest up to date for any length of time. I’m once again two issues behind.

The digest has rarely sparked discussions. I’ve gotten some very kind e-mails over the past several years, but the sort of sustained discussion I hoped for is lacking in this blog. Additionally, there are now many other online forums to have “clarification of thought.” In addition to CW blogs, there are numerous CW oriented groups on Facebook and other social media sites.

Finally, I think ending the digest will enable me to do a few extended commentaries on some stuff I read in the New York Catholic Worker because I’ll be freed from the need to sound purely descriptive, as a digest should be. Reading Cathy Breen’s dispatches from Iraq, Jordan and Syria over the years has just been heartbreaking and it’d be good to write something more than “Article documents the plight of Iraqi refugees, including their inability to get visas.” about them. I haven’t done much specifically CW yet, over at my personal blog of Alaskan Librarian, but stay tuned.

This web site will stay up as a partial online index to the Catholic Worker. I also intend to keep up my WorldCat list of “Mentioned in the Catholic Worker” at http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/CatholicWorkerDigest/lists/499969.

Thanks to the dozen or so of you who have written or commented over the past five years.  I’ve had fun with this and believe I’ve introduced a few people to the movement started by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. But now its time to stop duplicating (in my view) the work of others and encourage you to explore the wider Catholic Worker universe. God Bless!

• To Welcome the Stranger by Jim Reagan – Commentary on our harsh immigration laws that break families apart. Refers to plights of RoxRoy Salmon and Jean Montrevil. Refers to the seemingly dead Child Citizen Protection Act and notes that about 280,000 immigrants are currently being detained by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
• Prisons Beyond  Guantanamo by Matt Vogel – An article that reminds readers that there is a whole host of overseas US prisons where human rights have been violated and those are just the prisons we know about. References Bagram in Afghanistan, Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper in Iraq, as well as suspected prisons in Eastern Europe and Diego Garcia.
• A Tragedy in Bushwick by Felton Davis – Chronicles the positive response of a community in the face of two brothers beaten (one to death) in Brooklyn either for walking arm in arm and/or daring to be immigrants. Deceased was Jose Sucuzhanay.
• St. Pat’s in Miyako (Okinawa, Japan) by Pat Sullivan, OFM Cap – An account of the 50th anniversary of the founding of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Miyako.
• Prophetic Voices Never Die by Louie Vitale, OFM – A reflection on how the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on war and poverty are applicable today.
• My Sojourn at the NYCW by Francisco Fernandez – A recollection of his experiences at Catholic Worker houses back in the 1950s and his experience with US immigration authorities.
• Book Review: Army of None by Aimee Allison and David Solnit. Seven Stories Press, New York, NY 2007. Reviewed by Fr. Bill Pickard. – Favorable review of book aiming to dry up pools of military applicants through “truth in recruiting” and building other opportunities for young people.  Asserts that only 6% of recruits get the bonuses promised to them. [Daniel's note - If someone can either document that number or some other number, let me know and I'll update this entry.]
• Beds Taken by Bureaucracy by Tanya Theriault – Relates the struggles of faith-based homeless shelters to comply with New York City rules for aid. References New York Partnership for the Homeless and Coalition for the Homeless. Notes the dangers of faith-based organizations relying on government for assistance.
• Book Review: The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2008. Reviewed by Bill Griffin. – Favorable review of book asserting that America is deeply threatened by consumerism, addiction to foreign oil and above all, a belief that we are divinely ordained to rule the world.
• Cluster Bombs: No! by Bill Griffin – An exhortation for the United States to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions. References Travis Bradach-Nall, an American serviceman killed by US cluster munitions in July 2003 and a GAO report about US casualties from US mines and unexploded ordinance. Report appears to be Information on U.S. Use of Land Mines in the Persian Gulf War GAO-02-1003 (September 2002).
• Chrystie Street by Edgar Forand – A reprint from the May 1963 Catholic Worker detailing the joys and many challenges of life in the Chrystie Street Catholic Worker House, including dealing with drug-addicted young people and getting fresh produce from convents.
• Friendship in Community by Ted Walker – Reflections on his brief but uplifting friendship with the 91 year old Edgar Forand. Includes reflections on the need for quiet time and how relationships get formed.

————————–

As far as I know, the text and woodcut graphics of the Catholic Worker are not available on-line. If you would like the full text of an article that I mention here, I have three suggestions:

1) Try to borrow the article through Interlibrary Loan.

2) Contact the archivist for the CW at Marquette University:

Phil Runkel
Archivist
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Raynor Memorial Libraries
Marquette University
1355 W. Wisconsin Ave, PO Box 3141
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-5903
http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/day.html

3) Try contacting the Catholic Worker directly. They MAY be willing to send you the article, though I don’t know if they have morgue files. It seems likely they do, since they often reprint Dorothy Day articles. Contact information for Catholic Worker appears in the “subscribe” section below.

To Subscribe:

Even you if you don’t like what you see here, I encourage you to try a subscription to the Catholic Worker. They will give you a subscription for $0.25/year (If you want to cover the actual costs of a subscription, send them $10). You can hardly do better than a quarter a year!

Send your subscription requests to:

Catholic Worker
36 East 1^st St.
New York, NY 10003
Telephone: 212-777-9617 or 212-677-8627.

Even if you think you hate the Catholic Worker movement and all it stands for, subscribe anyway. See what the other side is doing. Also get it for the obituaries. Nowhere else will you find people memorializing the marginalized the way the Catholic Worker celebrates the lives that come through their houses of hospitality. Everyone can learn something about how to see every person’s dignity by perusing these obituaries.

All meetings begin at 7:45pm:

Feb 20 Lindsey Davis: Update on Homelessness in New York City.

Feb 27 Dennis Halliday: Exceptionalism within the United Nations.

Mar 6 War and Peace Update.

Mar 13 Irmak Ertuna & Ted Walker: Technology, Cure or Curse?

Mar 20 Joyce Polistena: Liberal Catholicism in the Romantic Era–Eugene Delacroix and His Time.

Mar 27 Roger Haight, SJ: Evolution, Christian Spirituality and Social Justice.

Why the meetings? I’ll let the Worker itself explain:

In keeping with Peter Maurin’s recognition of the need for ongoing clarification of thought, we invite you to join us for our weekly Friday night meetings. The meetings are held either at Maryhouse–55 East Third St, 212-777-9617, or St. Joseph House, 36 East First St, 212-254-1640. As far ahead as we can see, those we will hold at First Street will be marked with an *. Feel welcome to call and confirm the schedule. Both houses are between First and Second Avenues (2nd Ave. stop on the F or V train).

So, if you’re within driving distance of New York, please attend if you can. If you do, please leave a comment here or send an e-mail to dnlcornwall AT alaska DOT net.

This is for the December 2008 issue of the Catholic Worker. I hope to resume a full digest for the January/February 2009 issue.

Any hyperlinks below are to related information on the web and not to the article in the paper.

• Edgar Forand, 1917-2008 by Geoffrey Gneuhs – According to the editors, these remarks were delivered at Ed’s Funeral Mass, October 24, 2008 at the Church of the Nativity, New York City
• Mr. President Shut it Down! by 100 Days to Close Guantanamo and End Torture campaign. Related material at http://www.100dayscampaign.org/
• Ecological Conscience by Thomas Merton Related material from the Democratic Underground.
• A Visit with Iraqis in Syria by Cathy Breen
• Ecology and the Poor by Robert Francis Murphy
• Thomas Merton — 40 Years On by Anna Brown Related material at http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/
• Movie Review: Grace is Gone by Felton Davis
• Dressed for War by Matt Vogel Related material at http://www.centeronconscience.org/UAA/09092008.shtml
• Book Review: The Kings and their Gods: The Pathology of power. By Daniel Berrigan, SJ. William B. Eeedmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, MI, 2008. Reviewed by Bill Griffin.
• A Personalist Economics by Dorothy Day – Excerpted by September 1956 issue of the Catholic Worker.
• Fritz Remembered [Fritz Eichenberg] by June Hildebrand
• Journey of Hope [Death Penalty in Montana] by Art Laffin.

————————–

As far as I know, the text and woodcut graphics of the Catholic Worker are not available on-line. If you would like the full text of an article that I mention here, I have three suggestions:

1) Try to borrow the article through Interlibrary Loan.

2) Contact the archivist for the CW at Marquette University:

Phil Runkel
Archivist
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Raynor Memorial Libraries
Marquette University
1355 W. Wisconsin Ave, PO Box 3141
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-5903
http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/day.html

3) Try contacting the Catholic Worker directly. They MAY be willing to send you the article, though I don’t know if they have morgue files. It seems likely they do, since they often reprint Dorothy Day articles. Contact information for Catholic Worker appears in the “subscribe” section below.

To Subscribe:

Even you if you don’t like what you see here, I encourage you to try a subscription to the Catholic Worker. They will give you a subscription for $0.25/year (If you want to cover the actual costs of a subscription, send them $10). You can hardly do better than a quarter a year!

Send your subscription requests to:

Catholic Worker
36 East 1^st St.
New York, NY 10003
Telephone: 212-777-9617 or 212-677-8627.

Even if you think you hate the Catholic Worker movement and all it stands for, subscribe anyway. See what the other side is doing. Also get it for the obituaries. Nowhere else will you find people memorializing the marginalized the way the Catholic Worker celebrates the lives that come through their houses of hospitality. Everyone can learn something about how to see every person’s dignity by perusing these obituaries.

Any hyperlinks below are to related information on the web and not to the article in the paper.

• Fear in Our Time – Dorothy Day (Reprint of April 1968 article)
• On Ransom and Refugees by Cathy Breen
• Immigration & the Church by Matt Vogel
• Mass Market Orientalism by Florence Stratton
• Saint of Revolutionary Love [St. Francis of Assisi] by Jim Reagan
• These Youth Need Justice! [Juveniles held at Gitmo] by Bill Griffin
• Rosenberg Fund for Kids by Robert Meeropol Related material at http://www.rfc.org/
• Book Review: JFK and the Unspeakable: Why he died and why it matters. By James W. Douglass. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY, 2008. Reviewed by Tom Cornell – Interview with author James Douglass available at http://www.wmnf.org/news_stories/book-examines-jfk-and-the-unspeakable. Thanks to Kev Hall and the CW national e-mail list for the link.
• Thomas [ Pahl ] Lewis, 1940-1008 (Obituary) – Related material at http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/831.

————————–

As far as I know, the text and woodcut graphics of the Catholic Worker are not available on-line. If you would like the full text of an article that I mention here, I have three suggestions:

1) Try to borrow the article through Interlibrary Loan.

2) Contact the archivist for the CW at Marquette University:

Phil Runkel
Archivist
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Raynor Memorial Libraries
Marquette University
1355 W. Wisconsin Ave, PO Box 3141
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-5903
http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/day.html

3) Try contacting the Catholic Worker directly. They MAY be willing to send you the article, though I don’t know if they have morgue files. It seems likely they do, since they often reprint Dorothy Day articles. Contact information for Catholic Worker appears in the “subscribe” section below.

To Subscribe:

Even you if you don’t like what you see here, I encourage you to try a subscription to the Catholic Worker. They will give you a subscription for $0.25/year (If you want to cover the actual costs of a subscription, send them $10). You can hardly do better than a quarter a year!

Send your subscription requests to:

Catholic Worker
36 East 1^st St.
New York, NY 10003
Telephone: 212-777-9617 or 212-677-8627.

Even if you think you hate the Catholic Worker movement and all it stands for, subscribe anyway. See what the other side is doing. Also get it for the obituaries. Nowhere else will you find people memorializing the marginalized the way the Catholic Worker celebrates the lives that come through their houses of hospitality. Everyone can learn something about how to see every person’s dignity by perusing these obituaries.

On the principle that something is better than nothing at all, this month’s digest will once again be a simple listing of titles and authors of stories appearing in the Aug/Sept 2008 issue of the Catholic Worker.

Any hyperlinks below are to related information on the web and not to the article in the paper.

• What My Father Told Me [About War] – David Mc Reynolds
• You Do the Military Math by Tanya Theriault & Matt Vogel – Related material at Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (http://www.projectyano.org/).
• Roland D’Arcangelo, 1943-2008 (Obituary)
• Book Review: The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers by Jane Guskin and David Wilson. Reviewed by Grace Yukich.
• CW Book List. My WorldCat.org version at http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/CatholicWorkerDigest/lists/499609.
• Agents of Change by Al Fritsch. Book may be downloaded at http://www.earthhealing.info/rtc.html.
• First Do No Harm [Torture] by Bill Griffin.  Report referenced in article is available at http://brokenlives.info/?page_id=69.
• The Church & the “Dirty War” [Argentina] by Jerry Ryan. See some of the US State Departments files on the disappearance for Fr. Mauricio Silva from their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Reading Room.
• William P. Ford, 1936-2008 (Obituary)
• Book Review:  See You in Court: How the Right Made America a Lawsuit Nation, by Thomas Geoghegan. Reviewed by Lawrence Joseph.

————————–

As far as I know, the text and woodcut graphics of the Catholic Worker are not available on-line. If you would like the full text of an article that I mention here, I have three suggestions:

1) Try to borrow the article through Interlibrary Loan.

2) Contact the archivist for the CW at Marquette University:

Phil Runkel
Archivist
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Raynor Memorial Libraries
Marquette University
1355 W. Wisconsin Ave, PO Box 3141
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-5903
http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/day.html

3) Try contacting the Catholic Worker directly. They MAY be willing to send you the article, though I don’t know if they have morgue files. It seems likely they do, since they often reprint Dorothy Day articles. Contact information for Catholic Worker appears in the “subscribe” section below.

To Subscribe:

Even you if you don’t like what you see here, I encourage you to try a subscription to the Catholic Worker. They will give you a subscription for $0.25/year (If you want to cover the actual costs of a subscription, send them $10). You can hardly do better than a quarter a year!

Send your subscription requests to:

Catholic Worker
36 East 1^st St.
New York, NY 10003
Telephone: 212-777-9617 or 212-677-8627.

Even if you think you hate the Catholic Worker movement and all it stands for, subscribe anyway. See what the other side is doing. Also get it for the obituaries. Nowhere else will you find people memorializing the marginalized the way the Catholic Worker celebrates the lives that come through their houses of hospitality. Everyone can learn something about how to see every person’s dignity by perusing these obituaries.

If you run a web site or blog, please feel free to incorporate the “Books and More” RSS feed into your own sites. Let’s spread the word of Catholic Worker reading together!

As a down payment on the work I know I need to catch up on, I offer you a web version of the CW Book List published in the August/September 2008 issue of the Catholic Worker. The list is intended to be “a list of some of the books that deal with the Catholic Worker Movement.”

My version of the list is posted to WorldCat, a sort of global catalog for libraries and can be found at http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/CatholicWorkerDigest/lists/499609 . In addition to seeing many (though not all) libraries that own these books, you can use the author and subjects to do further exploration in these subjects.  If books on this list are not available in your local library, then ask them to borrow a title or two through Interlibrary Loan.

In all book records, a purchase link to Amazon is provided. In many cases, you can read excerpts of the book online if there is a link labeled “preview.”

If you have read any of the books on this list and are willing to write a short review, please leave a comment to this blog posting. I’ll post the review into the WorldCat.org record so others can see it.

The CW referred users wishing a more complete list should check with the Catholic Worker archives at Marquette University at http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/day.html. I’ve likely said this before, so take with a grain of salt. I hope to catch up on the digest in the next few weeks. Pray for me that I get this done.

Any hyperlinks below are to related information on the web and not to the article in the paper.

• Tamar Hennessy, 1926-2008 by Kate Hennessy
• Winter Soldier [Iraq] Testimonies by Matthew W. Dalosio – Related material available at http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier.
• The Gospel and Repentance by Matt Vogel – Article about clergy sex abuse scandal.
• Seeds Planted, Prayers Sown by Brian Terrell
• On Pilgrimage in Iran by Martha Hennessy. Related material at http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/782.html.
• Ban Cluster Bombs by Bill Griffin. Related material at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/08/armstrade.military.
• Argentine Witness by Pat Rice
• In the Mean Time — The Costs by Bill Griffin. Article about increase in soldier suicides.
• Love is the Measure by Kate Hennessy. A eulogy for Tamar.
• I Felt the Exalted Creator by Dorothy Day. Reflection on the birth of her daughter Tamar.
• Book Review: Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America, 1940-1972. By Edward K. Kaplan. Yale University Press, 2008. Reviewed by Tom Cornell. Favorable review. Related material at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1120/feature.html

No “Friday Meetings” were listed in this issue of the Catholic Worker.

————————–

As far as I know, the text and woodcut graphics of the Catholic Worker are not available on-line. If you would like the full text of an article that I mention here, I have three suggestions:

1) Try to borrow the article through Interlibrary Loan.

2) Contact the archivist for the CW at Marquette University:

Phil Runkel
Archivist
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Raynor Memorial Libraries
Marquette University
1355 W. Wisconsin Ave, PO Box 3141
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-5903
http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/day.html

3) Try contacting the Catholic Worker directly. They MAY be willing to send you the article, though I don’t know if they have morgue files. It seems likely they do, since they often reprint Dorothy Day articles. Contact information for Catholic Worker appears in the “subscribe” section below.

To Subscribe:

Even you if you don’t like what you see here, I encourage you to try a subscription to the Catholic Worker. They will give you a subscription for $0.25/year (If you want to cover the actual costs of a subscription, send them $10). You can hardly do better than a quarter a year!

Send your subscription requests to:

Catholic Worker
36 East 1^st St.
New York, NY 10003
Telephone: 212-777-9617 or 212-677-8627.

Even if you think you hate the Catholic Worker movement and all it stands for, subscribe anyway. See what the other side is doing. Also get it for the obituaries. Nowhere else will you find people memorializing the marginalized the way the Catholic Worker celebrates the lives that come through their houses of hospitality. Everyone can learn something about how to see every person’s dignity by perusing these obituaries.

• The Duty of Delight by Robert Ellsberg
• An Easy Essay (Better and Better Off) by Peter Maurin
• Because I Want to Believe by Dorothy Day
• Ready for Whatever Happens (Ruth Collins) by Patrick Jordan
• Aims and Means of the Catholic Worker by The Editors
• Houses of Hospitality (Directory) by The Editors
• The Art of The Worker by Geoffrey Gneuhs
• A Good Shepherd at the CW (Sr. Teresa Murray) by Anne Marie Kaune
• Lives of Joyful Dedication by George Anderson, SJ
• An Artist for All Seasons (Rita Corbin) by Matt Vogel

The May 2008 issue was the 75th Anniversary of the first issue of the Catholic Worker which was begun May 1, 1933. I am glad to see them still going strong.

————————–

As far as I know, the text and woodcut graphics of the Catholic Worker are not available on-line. If you would like the full text of an article that I mention here, I have three suggestions:

1) Try to borrow the article through Interlibrary Loan.

2) Contact the archivist for the CW at Marquette University:

Phil Runkel
Archivist
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Raynor Memorial Libraries
Marquette University
1355 W. Wisconsin Ave, PO Box 3141
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-5903
http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/day.html

3) Try contacting the Catholic Worker directly. They MAY be willing to send you the article, though I don’t know if they have morgue files. It seems likely they do, since they often reprint Dorothy Day articles. Contact information for Catholic Worker appears in the “subscribe” section below.

To Subscribe:

Even you if you don’t like what you see here, I encourage you to try a subscription to the Catholic Worker. They will give you a subscription for $0.25/year (If you want to cover the actual costs of a subscription, send them $10). You can hardly do better than a quarter a year!

Send your subscription requests to:

Catholic Worker
36 East 1^st St.
New York, NY 10003
Telephone: 212-777-9617 or 212-677-8627.

Even if you think you hate the Catholic Worker movement and all it stands for, subscribe anyway. See what the other side is doing. Also get it for the obituaries. Nowhere else will you find people memorializing the marginalized the way the Catholic Worker celebrates the lives that come through their houses of hospitality. Everyone can learn something about how to see every person’s dignity by perusing these obituaries.