Dorothy Day inducted into National Women's Hall of Fame - Faith & Spirituality

Catholic New Times, Nov 3, 2002 by Rosemary Ganley

Sixteen hundred people, gathered in a college gymnasium in Seneca Falls, N.Y. on Oct. 5 to honour 19 eminent women being installed into the American Women's Hall of Fame, heard a stirring anti-war talk by Martha Hennessy of Vermont--the granddaughter of 2002 inductee, Dorothy Day.

Day, (1897-1980) the radical, Catholic, social-change activist and pacifist is "widely considered to be one of the great Catholic lay leaders of the 20th century," said Hall of Fame Director Marilyn Bero. "She founded the Catholic Worker Movement and the newspaper of the same name, and, today, over 100 Catholic Worker houses of hospitality exist across the U.S. and beyond, where volunteers live in Christian voluntary poverty, offering food and shelter to those in need."

Hennessey, who is involved with Catholic Worker activity, minced no words in accepting the honour for her grandmother.

"Dorothy resolutely resisted war and war preparations for half a century," she told the audience. "This included nuclear testing and the development of armaments. She would have us renounce war as an instrument of public policy," Hennessey said.

The annual Women's Hall of Fame induction ceremony was marked by tension this year as the United States seems to move closer to an invasion of Iraq.

"The reason and intent of this war threat", continued Hennessey," is the securing of outrageous wealth for a few and the manipulation of polls for certain politicians. My grandmother rejected the culture of capitalism, and would be resisting with all her strength these war drums."

Catholic women from New York State, one of whom, Margaret Driscoll, now 86, had volunteered with Dorothy Day at a Catholic Worker House in the 1940s, nominated Day to the Hall of Fame and then lobbied the selection committee, who initially were unaware of her contribution to the Catholic civic conscience of America.

A happy group from the 60-year-old Rochester Catholic Worker community and scores of others stood and cheered when the citation was read, and Hennessy spoke.

Day joined 176 other eminent American women, some living, some deceased, in the Hall of Fame. Also inducted at the ceremony were former first lady Rosalynn Carter, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham.

The National Women's Hall of Fame, opened in 1969, honours women for signal contributions to the arts, education, philanthropy, business, science and public life. Located 60 kilometres east of Rochester, N.Y., it commemorates the founding of the 19th-century women's rights movement in 1848 with the Women's Rights Convention. Organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the convention was held in the Wesleyan Church and it was attended by 300 suffragettes and anti-slavery leaders.

Day's first arrest for civil disobedience came in 1917, when she protested the exclusion of American women from the vote.

For more information see www.greatwomen.org.