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Pure Means vs. Supernatural Means? On the Solidarity and Differences between Jacques Maritain and Dorothy Day
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
Abstract
This paper clarifies the full extent of the differences between Jacques Maritain and Dorothy Day on pacifism and anarchism in the light of their solidarity. I argue that their differences were primarily due to the particular challenges they faced in their specific vocation arising from the World War II context, and secondarily due to their different understandings of the relationship between nature and grace. While Day became drawn to a concrete heroic life of the supernatural virtues under the guidance of her spiritual director John Hugo, Maritain aimed to philosophically elucidate all the possible means available to modern Christians which may contribute to a historical realization of the Christian ideal. Their theological difference on nature and grace did not constitute a fundamental rift if taking into account the role of conscience as the essential element of a person's dignity, where the spiritual life takes shape and discernments are made. The pure means of the philosopher and the supernatural means of the saint are united in the Christian who is willing to give all for the object of their love.
Keywords
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- Copyright © 2020 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers
Footnotes
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Kelly Johnson and Dr. William Portier of the University of Dayton for their stimulating support and kind friendship in the realization of this work.
References
1 Doering, Bernard E., ‘Jacques Maritain's Friendship with Dorothy Day,’ New Oxford Review 52 (December 1985), p. 22.Google Scholar
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4 Doering, ‘Jacques Maritain's Friendship with Dorothy Day,’ p. 20.
5 Stanley Vishnewski, ‘J. Maritain: An Appreciation,’ The Catholic Worker XXXIX, no. 5 (June 1973), p. 1.Google Scholar
6 Day, Dorothy, ‘Where Are the Poor? They Are in Prisons, Too,’ The Catholic Worker XXII, no. 1 (July 1955), p. 8.Google Scholar The quote says: “We are turning towards men, to speak and act among them, on the temporal plane, because, by our faith, by our baptism, by our confirmation, tiny as we are, we have the vocation of infusing into the world, wheresoever we are, the sap and savor of Christianity.” In a note written to Maritain in the following year Day says: “I think of you often and pray for you often with love. Your writings have meant so much to us here. Did you see my quotation from True Humanism which I used in our demonstration of Civil Disobedience last June? Thank you for your good help…” See Doering, ‘Jacques Maritain's Friendship with Dorothy Day,’ p. 20.
7 Maritain, ‘Freedom in the Modern World,’ p. 82.
8 Ibid., pp. 82–3.
9 Ibid., pp. 71, 86, 99.
10 Ibid., p. 97.
11 In October 1933 the Catholic Worker stated that its delegates would “be among those present at the US Congress against War” representing Catholic pacifism, see Miller, William D., A Harsh and Dreadful Love (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2005), p. 159.Google Scholar
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14 Doering, ‘Jacques Maritain's Friendship with Dorothy Day,’ p. 20.
15 Ibid., pp. 22–3.
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18 Ibid., pp. 160–61.
19 Ibid., p. 166. Original source of this note remains unclear.
20 Ibid., p. 164.
21 Peters, Called to Be Saints, pp. 181–82.
22 Miller, A Harsh and Dreadful Love, p. 167.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid., p. 173.
25 Piehl, Mel, Breaking Bread: The Catholic Worker and the Origin of Catholic Radicalism in America (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982), p. 89.Google Scholar
26 The change in the spiritual life of Dorothy Day was “one of emphasis rather than a complete turn of direction,” as her dedication to the CW movement in all its social dimensions never abated, see ibid.
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29 Ibid.
30 Ibid., pp. 2, 42.
31 Maritain, Man and the State, p. 60.
32 Peters, Called to Be Saints, p. 19.
33 Ibid., pp. 58–9.
34 Ibid., p. 565.
35 Ibid., p. 83. Besides indifferent samples, there are forbidden samples which are always sinful, necessary samples which provide for our basic needs, and captivating samples which are attractions to particular creatures.
36 Ibid., p. 185.
37 In her retreat notes she wrote: “Sow creature, possess Creator. Sow pleasures, reap happiness. Sow our life, reap life eternal.” See ibid., p. 509.
38 Maritain, The Person and the Common Good, p. 53.
39 Ibid., p. 52.
40 Ibid., p. 66.
41 Maritain, Man and the State, p. 62.
42 Maritain, Man and the State, p. 59.
43 Ibid., p. 68. It is not entirely clear what the last item in the list means. It is probably not inaccurate to connect the “flesh-and-bone” means with the organizing antics of Saul Alinsky, whom Maritain names as one of the few greatest revolutionaries in the world, and whom he quotes in this very passage.
44 Ibid.
45 Ibid., p. 70.
46 Piehl, Breaking Bread, p. 206.
47 Maritain, ‘Freedom in the Modern World,’ p. 88.
48 Ibid., p. 72. The other position, categorically bad, would be the Machiavellian stance that “the end justifies the means and no God exists.”
49 Miller, A Harsh and Dreadful Love, p. 443.
50 Maritain, ‘Freedom in the Modern World,’ p. 87.
51 One should acknowledge, however, that Day's criticism of the US took place in the rhetorical context of the Cold War, McCarthyism, and a constant barrage of arguments against the USSR.
52 Day, Dorothy, The Long Loneliness (NY: Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc, 1952), pp. 97, 170.Google Scholar Day, Dorothy, ‘The Incompatibility of Love and Violence,’ The Catholic Worker XVII (May 1951), no. 11, p. 2.Google Scholar Day, Dorothy, ‘On Pilgrimage: First Visit to Soviet Russia,’ The Catholic Worker XXXVII (Sept 1971), no. 7, p. 1.Google Scholar Day, Dorothy, ‘Russia, II On Pilgrimage,’ The Catholic Worker XXXVII (Oct 1971), no. 8, p. 3.Google Scholar
53 Day, ‘The Incompatibility of Love and Violence,’ p. 2.
54 Maritain, The Person and the Common Good, pp. 64–5.
55 Ibid., p. 64. I interpret the phrases in this paragraph, “solitary life of the spirit” and “seeming to forget the city” in a metaphorical sense rather than literal, since the CW movement obviously did not consist of recluses living a purely contemplative lifestyle away from the city.
56 The Catholic Worker XIV, no. 7 (Oct 1947), p. 7; XIV, no. 10 (Jan 1948), p. 1; XXVI, no. 1 (Aug 1959), p. 3; XXXIII, no. 5 (Feb 1967), p. 4; XL, no. 8 (Oct 1974), p. 6; LXII, no. 7 (Dec 1995), p. 2.
57 Troester, Rosalie Riegle, ed., Voices from the Catholic Worker (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993), p. 80.Google Scholar
58 Day, The Long Loneliness, p. 119, quoting William James.