Exploring the Catholic Worker Archives Part II

Dorothy Day/Bettemann Archives via Getty Images 

There have been a lot of words written about Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement. 

Most recently, there has been a process initiated, on behalf of the American Catholic Church, to canonize her. 

She died in 1980 at Maryhouse, one of the Catholic Worker houses of hospitality in New York City after spending almost 50 years engaged in a radical movement of social justice. At the same time, Day was, by most accounts, a very conservative Catholic, in the expression of her faith.

Day was a paradox, to be sure. She went to Mass daily, believing in the importance of Holy Communion. She read the psalms daily as well. And she was under surveillance by the FBI from the 1940s through the Vietnam War.

Thanks to the efforts of Robert Ellsberg, a former editor of the Catholic Worker and editor-in-chief of Orbis Books, we have access to over 500 pages from the FBI files on Day and the Catholic Worker, obtained through the Freedom on Information Act.

Like Day herself, it is extremely interesting.

Take, for instance, this letter to J. Edgar Hoover from Special Agent E.E. Conroy dated December 10, 1942.

"I don't like it. As I say you've got to read it [the December 1942 issue of the Catholic Worker newspaper] close, and there isn't an article in the whole darn thing that doesn't tingle - well, I'll put it this way, it's almost complete pacificism. 

"And also stirring up a negro question about race equality and God knows, you know how bad that is."

On December 12, 1942, Hoover received this letter from P.E. Foxworth, listed as Assistance Director (possibly of the FBI). Foxworth is referring to the same December 1942 issue of the Catholic Worker newspaper.

"It is requested that a copy of the Catholic Worker be presented to the Department for a decision as to whether the publication of this paper constitutes a violation of the Sedition Statutes..."

Even before this communication, Day was on the FBI's radar. Witness this snippet from December 9, 1942.

"Dorothy Day at one time was an 'out in the open' Red, next she supposedly refudiated it, then we found her running her Catholic flophouse and commune from 115 Mott Street."

Another FBI agent noted, a day later, "As a matter of fact, I think the whole [Catholic Worker] group should be put in jail until the end of the war [World War II].

"The writer of these [reports] happens to be a Catholic but I place country first and I believe that there is a nest of people that are using the Church as a window dressing to carry on something that is quite sinister... Personally, I don't like it a bit."

On June 22, 1942, the FBI noted that one of their informants, "stated that Miss Day and all the people living with her [at 115 Mott St.] seemed to be very radical in their actions and in their talk and are also publishing a radical newspaper."

Dorothy Day at Maryhouse/Bob Fitch Collection/Stanford University

Despite the serious charges against Day, the FBI noted, "the informant was unable to furnish any specific facts to support her opinion...

"She further stated that Peter Maurin [co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement during the Great Depression] seems to be against the Catholic religion and that Dorothy Day does not seem much inclined towards Catholicism, but that they stress Catholicism in order to get donations...

For the record, Day converted to Catholicism in 1927 after giving birth to her daughter, Tamar, the year before. She attended Mass daily and received Holy Communion on a daily basis.

On March 15, 1942, Hoover wrote to the Chief of the War Policies Unit, to make the FBI's surveillance of Day official: "I wish to advise that the Bureau is presently conducting an investigation of the "Catholic Worker" and Dorothy Day for possible violation of the Sedition Statutes."

Less than a year-and-a-half later, on July 5, 1944, Hoover wrote a memorandum, in reference to Special Agent Leon W. Elledge's closing report (submitted on March 17th of that year): "This is to advise that the Criminal Divison of the Department recently corresponded with the Bureau, after receiving Special Agent Elledge's report, in conjunction with those previously submitted, and advised that the facts developed in this case were not sufficient to warrant prosecution of subject Day or any of the individuals connected with 'The Catholic Worker' for a violation of the Sedition Statutes. It was also stated by the Criminal Divisio that no further investigation was desired."

At this point, Hoover advised retaining Day's case in a closed status, unless further accounts warranted continued investigation.

To sum it up, the New York City field office advised Hoover on November 17, 1944 "A comprehensive investigation conducted by this field division over a long period of time commencing in 1940 has failed to reveal that this subject [Day] is a member of the Communist Party or is connected with any Communist organizations or has supported the Communist Party here...

"Therefore it is recommended that the Bureau give consideration to canceling of the security index card presently being maintained on this individual."

Four years later, the FBI still considers Day a person of interest.

A June 7, 1948 report to Hoover states, "It appears that the Catholic Worker movement, rightly or wrongly according to one's own social viewpoint, is sincerely attempting to apply a somewhat unique interpretation of Christian doctrine in a unique way, in behalf of the poor, homeless, hungry, weak, unfortunate people who have stumbled and fallen along life's pathway... To this end the leaders of the CW movement inspired by their concept of 'Christian love' seem to be willing to sacrifice their lives and talents."

Day regularly wrote an "On Pilgrammage" column for the CW newspaper. The January 1954 column refers to a visit by FBI agent Frederick Daly, to the CW farm on Staten Island on December 3, 1953.

In the middle of being interrogated about one of her friends, Day writes, "He pulled back his jacket and displayed the holster of a gun under his armpit, which he patted bravely as he said, 'I believe in defending myself.' I could not but think, 'how brave a man defending himself with his own gun against us unarmed women and children.'"

In an undated letter sent to Hoover, an FBI agent refers to Day: "The files of the NYC [FBI division] reflect that Dorothy Day is a very erratic and somewhat irresponsible person."

Dorothy Day/Nations Media

This impression was given at a time when Day was chiefly responsible for running two houses of hospitality, including a soup kitchen and dormitory for homeless folk, as well as managing the farm on Staten Island.

After Agent Daly's report, on January 1, 1954, Hoover sent a follow-up memo to the FBI's NYC division. "You should immediately instruct all agents assigned to the NY Division that in the future Dorothy Day is not to be contacted in investigations of any kind without specific prior Bureau authority."

For the most part, this seems to be when regular surveillance of Day stopped. However, Ellsberg's acquisition of the FBI files on Day and the Catholic Worker do show the surveillance continued into the 1950s and beyond.

On June 19, 1955 Day and 27 other Catholic Workers were arrested for not taking part in the Civil Defense drill in New York City that happened four days prior. 

The protester's point was that to participate was to include oneself in the "Cold War" between the US and the USSR. This went against their pacifist beliefs. Not to mention the practical folly of asking citizens of major metropolitan areas to believe that they had a chance of surviving a direct hit from an atomic bomb - witness what the US did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during WWII.

During the 1960s the FBI continued to be interested in the Catholic Worker and Day, especially in regards to protesting the Vietnam War. The FBI recorded instances of various peaceful marches and actions against registering for the draft.

But, the very last entry contained in the files Ellsberg obtained [and available online through the Catholic Worker Archives at Marquette University] includes this entry from October 18, 1965. It could very well serve as a summary of over twenty years of FBI surveillance. "There has been no overt subversive information on the part of the subject [Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker], therefore, it is not felt investigative effort is warranted at the present time, and, accordingly no further action is being taken in this regard." 

Final Note: Of course, Dorothy Day never stopped her activism. She supported Cesar Chavez in his efforts to organize the United Farmworkers Union in the 1960s and was arrested during the summer of 1973 in California, at 76 years of age, for refusing to comply with an injunction against picketing.