REVOLUTION OF THE HEART: THE DOROTHY DAY STORY

How to describe Dorothy Day? Grandmother, anarchist, prophet, journalist, pacifist, saint? The FBI once considered her a threat to national security. Now the Catholic Church is considering her for sainthood.

REVOLUTION OF THE HEARTThe Dorothy Day Story profiles one of the most extraordinary and courageous women in American history. She was co-founder (along with Peter Maurin) of the Catholic Worker Movement that began as a newspaper to expose rampant injustices during the Great Depression. It soon expanded to become a network of houses of hospitality to welcome the poor and destitute.

Over the years, Dorothy Day developed her understanding of how to follow the Biblical challenge to be “peacemakers” by resisting all forms of military intervention. She protested America’s involvement in World War II and was severely criticized. Day was arrested multiple times for protesting America’s nuclear buildup and she led nationwide resistance against the war in Vietnam.

Now nearly a century after they began, the number of Catholic Worker houses continues to grow and the newspaper is still speaking truth to power.

REVOLUTION OF THE HEART includes rare archival photographs and film footage plus interviews with actor/activist Martin Sheen, public theologian Cornel West, popular author Joan Chittister, Jim Wallis of Sojourners and many others.

INTERVIEWEES

  • ROBERT ELLSBERG

    ROBERT ELLSBERG

    is publisher and editor-in-chief of Orbis Books and author of All Saints, Modern Spiritual Masters and others. He is former managing editor of The Catholic Worker and has edited the selected writings, diaries and letters of Dorothy Day.

  • MARTIN SHEEN

    MARTIN SHEEN

    is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actor with leading roles in both film and television. He is also a committed social activist. During his days as a struggling actor in New York he frequented The Catholic Worker.

  • MARTHA HENNESSEY

    MARTHA HENNESSEY

    is a granddaughter of Dorothy Day and an activist. She is a member of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 – arrested in 2018 for protesting at a nuclear weapons site. She lives with her family in Vermont.

  • KATE HENNESSEY

    KATE HENNESSEY

    is a writer and the youngest of Dorothy Day’s nine grandchildren. She is the author of the best selling Dorothy Day – The World Will Be Saved By Beauty, An Intimate Portrait of My Grandmother.

  • TIM KAINE

    TIM KAINE

    was elected to the United States Senate in 2013 as the junior senator from Virginia. He served as governor of Virginia from 2006-2010. Raised a Catholic, Kaine was involved with the Catholic Worker Movement. He co-founded a homeless shelter in Richmond, VA, modeled after The Catholic Worker.

  • TIMOTHY DOLAN

    TIMOTHY DOLAN

    is the tenth Catholic Archbishop of New York. In 2010 he was elected as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a leading advocate for Dorothy Day’s canonization.

  • JOAN CHITTISTER

    JOAN CHITTISTER

    is a Benedictine Sister of Erie, PA and one of the nation’s most influential religious and social leaders. She is the author of numerous books including The Time is Now and The Gift of Years. She is a popular speaker.

  • JIM WALLIS

    JIM WALLIS

    is an evangelical theologian, a best selling author and founder and president of Sojourners, a faith-based social justice community. He is editor of Sojourners magazine. He served as a spiritual advisor to Barack Obama.

  • SIMONE CAMPBELL

    SIMONE CAMPBELL

    is a Sister of Social Services, lawyer, lobbyist and Executive Director of NETWORK, the Catholic Social Justice organization. She led six nationwide tours of Nuns on the Bus raising awareness of justice issues.

  • CORNEL WEST

    CORNEL WEST

    teaches Public Philosophy at Harvard University and is considered one of American’s leading public theologians. He is the author of 20 books including the best selling Race Matters. He is a regular guest on CNN and other news outlets.

  • MARK MASSA

    MARK MASSA

    is a Jesuit priest and Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College. He is author of The American Catholic Revolution and Catholics and American Culture.

  • PAUL ELIE

    PAUL ELIE

    is at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, World Affair and Peace. He writes for The New Yorker and The Atlantic and is author of The Life You Save May Be Your Own, which includes profiles of Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day.

  • JOHN CARR

    JOHN CARR

    is founder and director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. He served for over 20 years as Director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development for the US Bishops.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

THE CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT

CATHOLIC TEACHING AND THE CHURCH

POLITICS

THE IDEA OF COMMUNITY