Century's top laity led by Day of U.S.

Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, was chosen by a panel of Church historians and theologians who were asked to select laity who made the Church better or lived their faith in exemplary ways during the past 100 years. Her name appeared on every ballot but one.

The scholars' other choices ranged from an Hispanic man who organized farmworkers to anonymous lay ministers and even a rock singer known as The Boss.

The list was compiled as part of The Evangelist's year-long series of articles examining the first 2,000 years of Church history. Presented alphabetically by each scholar, with an explanation for their selections, here are the names of the best and brightest lay Catholics of the 20th century:

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From Maureen A. Tilley, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton in Ohio:

* PATRICK and PATRICIA CROWLEY, the founders of the Christian Family Movement in 1949. The CFM helped to form Catholic couples more deeply in their faith -- specifically in the context of marriage and raising their families -- through small group meetings with social, educational and prayer components. They are also significant as the lay leaders of the papal birth-control commission of the 1960s, providing the perspective of Catholic married couples to the deliberations behind "Humanae Vitae."

* DOROTHY DAY (1897-1980). Her story is well known: radical activist as a youth, Catholic convert, Catholic radical activist to the end of her life. The people she worked with were the outcasts in large cities. She was also famous for her writings on Catholic social teachings in the newspaper, The Catholic Worker, and for her pacifist convictions.

* DOLORES HUERTA (1930- ) and CESAR ESTRADA CHAVEZ (1927-63), among the founders of the National Farm Workers Association (now the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO). Their struggle for legislation to protect farmworkers showed how Catholic teachings on social justice could be appropriated by the workers themselves to bring dignity and justice to their lives.

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From Rev. Ben Fiore, SJ, a professor at Canisius College in Buffalo:

* DOROTHY DAY has to be included on any list of significant lay persons of our century. Her outspoken and consistent pacifism, even in the time of World War II, kept that time-honored Christian ideal and alternative before the consciences of informed Catholics and non-Catholics alike. She also came to know abortion as a hideous reality and rejected that as a choice. Her social consciousness inspired countless others to follow her example. She lived a Catholicism that was theologically profound and socially responsible.

* CATHERINE DE HUECK DOHERTY, whose Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario, remains an effective center for the training of lay apostles who carry her vision forward. Combermere has also become of place of spiritual reinvigoration for priests and laity alike who visit there and share the life and prayer of the community.

* TONY WALSH, who ran the Benedict Labre House, located in one of the poorest sections of Montreal. He distributed food baskets to needy families in the area, and those in need were able to come to Labre House for shoes and clothing. It was an early prototype of the type of outreach center that has flourished across North America.

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From Rev. Charles D. Skok, professor emeritus of religious studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington:

* DOROTHY DAY, for her absolute and total dedication to the poor and down-trodden; her complete loyalty to the Church, in spite of Churchmen who viewed her with suspicion and disdain; her unconditional pacifism; and her undivided heart at home both in contemplative prayer and in energetic activism.

* JACQUES and RAISSA MARITAIN, who were great voices in the world of philosophy, art, culture and religion. Their accomplishments kept the Church from becoming peripheral in the "modern" conversation.

* BARON FRIEDRICH VON HUGEL, a voice of sanity in the Modernist controversy. Deeply spiritual and intellectual, he sought to bring the Church into the Twentieth Century by keeping the conversation alive among biblical scholars, social scientists, philosophers and Churchmen.

* MAISIE WARD and FRANK SHEED, Catholic missionary voices through preaching, writing and publishing at time when "Catholic" was not popular in England and the English-speaking world.

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From Rev. William McConville, OFM, professor of religious studies at Siena College in Loudonville:

* DOROTHY DAY, whose commitment to living the Gospel, especially in her service to the poor, as well as her deep prayer life, has made her an unsettling yet comforting presence within the communion of saints.

* JACQUES MARITAIN, whose critical retrieval of the scholastic tradition in dialogue with the modern world helped to lay the foundation for Vatican II, especially "Gaudium et Spes."

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From William R. Barnett, associate professor of religious studies at Le Moyne College in Syracuse:

* DOROTHY DAY: Although theologically conservative, she lived with considerable success the life that all Christians are called to live: a life of sacrifice for the welfare of others. The thing that sets her apart from others who also have done that is that she tried to take a systemic approach to improving the lot of others by working to change economic systems and to oppose war.

* PENNY LERNOUX (1940-89) was a long-time Latin American affairs correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter and other publications. She is significant because she brought to life the plight of the marginalized in Latin America that enabled many around the world to understand the intention of liberation theology in light of its successes and its limitations.

* FLANNERY O'CONNOR (1925-64) surpasses most authors in being able to produce works of both religious and literary authenticity. Most authors who attempt that fail in one direction or the other, whereas she succeeded in holding both religion and the human situation together in an unrelenting tension.

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From Dr. John Dwyer, who teaches at St. Bernard's Institute in Albany:

* PAUL CLAUDEL, the French poet, philosopher and diplomat who showed the largely dechristianized intellectual elite of his country that Christian faith was an intellectually respectable choice.

* DOORTHY DAY, whose love of the poor awakens admiration even in those who do not buy into the ideology of the Catholic Worker movement.

* LAY MINISTERS: The truly great Catholic lay(wo)men of the century are the thousands who work as lay ministers in the Church. They are largely unknown outside their own parishes or the diocesan offices of catechetical ministries. They are barely tolerated by the Vatican, which is ready to discard them as soon as that mythical day arrives when there are enough vocations to the celibate priesthood. But they are absolutely indispensable for passing on the faith to new generations, and every parish that shows signs of life is enriched by their dedicated service. Fortunately, the future of the Church is in their capable hands.

* SIGRID UNDSET, the Norwegian Nobel Prize laureate whose greatest novels were set in medieval Scandinavia but which dealt with the enduring grandeur and tragedy of the human situation.

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From Dr. Jeffrey Marlett, assistant professor of religious studies at The College of Saint Rose in Albany:

* GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON (1874-1936), a British convert whose novels, biographies of St. Francis and St. Thomas Aquinas, and books --including his still-popular "Orthodoxy" -- gave the English-speaking Catholic world a humorous, easily-accessible, and faithful intellectual voice to counteract the opposition the Church often faced then. Chesterton literally laughed it all off; that's a skill many wish would for themselves today.

* DOROTHY DAY, whose work with The Catholic Worker newspaper, and its communities, pacifist causes and social justice movements created a substantial legacy. While she was alive, not many Catholics -- let alone other Americans -- even knew her name. Nevertheless, her insistence that Christ might be found in the suffering poor and marginalized provided a theological foundation for the current spectrum of Catholic theological perspectives.

* BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, while probably not the most exemplary Catholic, has penned some of the most authentic, honest and yet still hope-filled popular songs in 20th-century popular music. Catholics ranging from David Tracy to Andrew Greeley to Flannery O'Connor have spoken of the "Catholic imagination" wherein God's grace takes on an incarnational, tangible form in the material world. Springsteen's music looks unflinchingly at how difficult the reality of this world might be, yet it continues to hope for a better day. Often, his stories end in less-than-happy circumstances, but such honesty is precisely what elevates Springsteen above other musicians as well as others interested in the daily lives of "real" Catholics.

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From Rev. James Wiseman, OSB, from the Department of Theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.:

* DOROTHY DAY: The luminous singlemindedness of Dorothy Day's fidelity to the Gospel and her down-to-earth approach to helping those in need have continued to inspire the Catholic Worker movement throughout our country.

* FRANZ JAEGERSTAETTER, Austrian farmer, devoted husband and father, and one of relatively few who not only saw the evil of Nazism but also refused to cooperate with that evil in any way, even though it cost him his life.

* RAISSA AND JACQUES MARITAIN: Each of these alone would merit a place on this list, but together the Maritains exemplify both the sanctity of marriage and the significant contribution that intellectual activity can make to the life of the Church.

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From Jude P. Dougherty, dean of the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.:

* KONRAD ADENAUER for his role in shaping post-war Europe.

* HILLAIRE BELLOC for his robust Catholicism.

* GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON for his character of Father Brown and for his many works in defense of the Catholic intellectual tradition.

* RALPH MCINERNY for his impressive scholarship, his delightful fiction and his role as an intellectual catalyst on the American scene.

* FRANK SHEED and MAISIE WARD for their press and the many substantial books they made available.

(11-25-99) [[In-content Ad]]