As you observe, Augustine rejected Manichaeism. However, Day continued to associate with and present an unrealistic and sanitized account of those whose lives resembled her bohemian past. She tolerated and enabled sexual immorality at the Catholic Worker farms. When I visited Tivoli in 1971 I was puzzled and confused by the things I observed, and naively thought Dorothy must not be aware of the goings-on, such as a couple living together without benefit of clergy. But her diary (”The Duty of Delight,” 2011) reveals that she knew what was happening (pp. 419, 454), decided to sell the farm (p. 486), and then took 10 years to do so (p. 675).
In addition, Day allowed Ammon Hennacy to remain a “Catholic” Worker (he had become Catholic because Dorothy was Catholic) after he married outside the Catholic Church. Ironically, Joan Thomas, Ammon’s second wife, met him at the CW after Day had told her, “Oh, you must meet Ammon. He knows all about fasting. And he likes pretty girls”; Thomas found this “an extremely puzzling remark for a bona fide Christian woman” to make (Joan Thomas,”The Years of Grief and Laughter,” 1974, p. 7). Day eulogized him in “Ammon Hennacy: Non-Church’ Christian” (CW,February 1970).
I don't see Day as ever repentent of her damaging beliefs. Far from it.
Like Jane Fonda...if I saw evidence that she now worked in favor of freedom, I would believe she was truly repentant. But this was not so with either Fonda or Day.
There's something very wrong with the idolization of Day. Way too many Catholics idolize the poor (which has led to their social justice politics) much like the communists idolized or romanticized the peasantry. I wish they regarded freedom with the same sentiment. Putting Day up as a saint only amplifies that serious mistake. Thanks for your posts.