The Catholic Worker Movement and Racial Justice: A Precarious Relationship. Issue 1 (June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rice, Lincoln
• Is Part Of: Horizons. Volume 46:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 53
• Page End: 78
• Publication Date: 2019-06
• Subjects: Catholic Worker, -- Dorothy Day, -- Peter Maurin, -- Arthur Falls, -- racism, -- Helen Riley; Theology -- Periodicals; Doctrines -- History -- Periodicals; 230.205
• DOI: 10.1017/hor.2019.9
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-9669

Abstract

Abstract : The Catholic Worker Movement, widely known for its critique of violence and capitalism in American culture, has largely neglected racism. This seems surprising because its urban houses of hospitality, staffed mostly by middle-class whites, provide material resources disproportionately to impoverished African Americans. The movement's embodiment as a white movement and the failure of its founders (Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin) to prioritize racial justice has impeded its ability to adequately confront racism. This article contrasts the ways in which racism was addressed by the founders with the way it was addressed by two prominent African American Catholic Workers. The article includes a new Catholic Worker narrative to explain the movement's relationship with racial justice and offer suggestions for ways the movement can mine its own rich resources to become an authentically anti-racist movement.