Yes,Dorothy Day called herself a “propagandist” and an “agitator.” She insisted that the early Christians’ and religious orders’ cooperative efforts were a form of “Catholic Communism.” She declared more than forty years after becoming a Catholic: “Fortunately, the Papal States were wrested from the Church in the last century, but there is still the problem of investment of papal funds. It is always a cheering thought to me that if we have good will and are still unable to find remedies for the economic abuses of our time, in our family, our parish, and the mighty church as a whole, God will take matters in hand and do the job for us. When I saw the Garibaldi mountains in British Columbia ... I said a prayer for his soul and blessed him for being the instrument of so mighty a work of God. May God use us!” (”Hutterite Communities,” “Catholic Worker” [CW], July-August 1969).
Despite Cardinal O’Connor’s claim that she left behind her Communist friends and beliefs, she did neither. She told Robert Coles (not “Cole”) that in her youth, most of her friends were “Communists and Socialists. (I think I called them radical friends in the section of ‘The Long Loneliness’ where I discuss my Chicago days.)” (Robert Coles, “Dorothy Day: A Radical Devotion,” 1987, p. 27). On April 9, 1959 she wrote, “My work in the labor field, and with the radical group was very much in accord with my conscience—that is why I still love them all” (”All the Way to Heaven: Selected Letters of Dorothy Day,” 2010, p. 252). She maintained a lifelong friendship with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who became the head of the Communist Party USA. In her diary (”The Duty of Delight,” 2011) Day notes on December 23, 1958: “visited Gurley Flynn and her sister who has been ill” (p. 248). In her September 16, 1964 diary entry, Day wrote: “Dreamed last night of writing speech for Gurley Flynn’s memorial service at Community Church next Tues. They called me up about it and I told them I would write a letter” (p. 361). Day’s letter praising Flynn was read publicly at the memorial service by CW Tom Cornell, and also published in the November 1964 CW as “Red Roses for Her.” Flynn had already had a State funeral in Moscow’s Red Square with Khrushchev present, as Carol Byrne notes in her essential “The Catholic Worker Movement (1933-1980): A Critical Analysis,” (2010, p. 6). Day also maintained a lifelong friendship with Mike Gold, a former “radical” boyfriend who became a columnist in “The Daily Worker.” For more details, see Carol Byrne’s book and its “Complete Supplementary Notes.” These notes are available at the blog “Dorothy Day Another Way.”
Keep in mind that anyone can become a Catholic, from whatever background, if he or she is respondng to divine grace. The Church has patriarchalists transformed by the Gospel, and feminists transformed by the Gospel. Monarchists and democratic/republicans. Leftists and Rightists.. What matters is not "Left" or "Right". What matters is the transformation.
As for Day's faults --- all sinners have them, and that means everyone. Dorothy used to say, "You can go to hell by imitating the vices of saints." She also had a short fuse. On being told she ought to hold her temper, she remarked, "I hold more temper in 10 minutes than you hold in a lifetime."
She struggled. I would do better--- much, much beter --- if I struggled as well as she did.
Let me close with these thoughts:
Gerald Vann, O.P. wrote in his book *The Heart of Man* (Ch. III) that “where there is obvious wickedness, we must protest and fight against the external crime, indeed, but we can never judge of [another person’s interior] sin because we can never know the human heart.”
As Vatican II’s constitution *Gaudium et Spes* stated (in Section 28), “[God] forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone.”
In any case, I will wait serenely to see if she gets her two miracles. That should settle things.