"many of [the many Catholic Worker houses and farms still in existence] really no longer identify as Catholic in any meaningful way. They continue to invoke the legacy of Dorothy, but in a very theologically attenuated form. Her work for 'social justice' is viewed as something separate from her unfortunate Catholicism, which is precisely why I eschew the use of the term 'social justice' as a descriptor for her life and work, since it is now a term that has been co-opted by secularized Leftists and used as code for an antinomian individualism, especially in matters of human sexuality."As a Catholic Worker I encounter other Catholic Workers from time to time and inevitably the topic of Day’s Catholicism comes up in conversation. And more often than not, the morally and theologically conservative nature of her Catholicism is dismissed as merely the result of her inculturation into the form of Catholicism that was dominant at that time. 'But,' so the narrative continues, 'if she were alive today she would be more liberal and progressive in her theology.' Thus does her Catholicism get mentioned but only to the extent that it can be quickly domesticated through careful transposition into the safe bromides of modern Leftist piety. But Dorothy Day is in good company on that score since they make the same domesticating move with regard to Christ himself."
Larry Chapp, reviewing Terrence C. Wright, Dorothy Day: an introduction to her life and thought (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2018), Catholic World Report, 17 March 2020.
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