The Catholic Worker and the Poor

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The Catholic Worker and the Poor
Dorothy provides some great insights concerning the role of the Catholic Worker in the service to the poor. She notes that God has shown himself to us through the poor around us. If we help the poor, we are advancing the greatest commandment, which is love. She notes that “He has shown himself to us in them” (Day, 106). Gerard, on the other hand, notes that the world is charged with the grandeur of God. The grandeur of God is most present when we consider the love of God. The catholic worker should extend love to the poor. Both Dorothy and Gerrard view poverty as a deprived state where the affected person lives on the breadline. Gerard notes how the life of a human being is smeared with toil. Dorothy, on the other hand, reflects on the hopelessness present at St. Joseph’s House on Chrystie Street. The hopelessness was brought about by poverty. Despite these observations, Dorothy notes that the poor around us help us extend the works of mercy. These writers have some similarities and differences in approaches to the poor. Both agree that poverty is a state of great deprivation where the affected person barely survives. The main difference is that Dorothy largely focuses on the role of the Catholic Christian in helping the poor while Gerard mainly focuses on the plight of the poor. The spiritual activism of the catholic worker/ layperson helps advance the common good, for it ens...