It was on May 1, 1933, during the nation's deep Depression, that a devout Catholic woman, Dorothy Day, took to the streets of Union Square to hand out the first copies of her newspaper, The Catholic Worker. The Worker delivered a message of compassion and justice to the working poor and the unemployed, at an affordable price, one cent, a price that has never changed.



Dorothy Day, journalist, social activist and devout Catholic, set up "houses of hospitality" to help feed, clothe, and comfort the poor. Acting out the very essence of Christianity, she lived through the Beatitudes--or blessings--which mark the opening of the Sermon on the Mount that, according to the Gospel of St. Matthew (5:3-10), was Christ's first sermon.

Along with

Peter Maurin

, she founded the

Catholic Worker movement.

It remains an inspiration to this day. To Laurence Downes, writing in the

New York Times

, Dorothy Day was both ordinary and amazing.

On that day in May, Day, along with a handful of friends, distributed 2,500 copies of The Worker by hand. Circulation grew to 190,000 by 1938, and dropped to 50,000 during World War II, largely because of the paper's pacifist stand. (Today's circulation is reportedly over 80,000, and, of course, there is a website.)

The Catholic Worker Movement is grounded in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every human person. Today 213 Catholic Worker communities remain committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and forsaken. Catholic Workers continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms.

They have their work cut out for them.

On the floor of Congress, stands another Catholic, Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), chair of the House Budget Committee and author of its roadmap. He is concerned about budget deficits. He wants to raise the price for reducing the nation's costs on those least able to pay. Ryan is the de facto head of the Republican Party's economic policy group which is intent on a fundamental transformation of the federal government by cutting income tax rates even further, simplifying the tax code (who benefits remains unclear), privatizing Medicare; shrinking the food-stamp program (which continues to experience growing demand in these challenging economic times) and reducing Medicaid for which he wants to turn almost all control over to the states—all of which reduces domestic federal spending to its smallest share of the economy since the Second World War.

Ryan has the audacity to name this savage cutting the “

Path to Prosperity

.” He just doesn’t say whose prosperity he’s talking about but that’s easy, it’s the prosperity of the already prosperous. Here is an

executive summary

.

He has tried to pass off his anti-poverty program cuts as being consistent with, indeed, inspired by Catholic social doctrine but the bishops aren't letting him get away with it. They are asking for:

"…a 'circle of protection' around poor and vulnerable people and programs that meet their basic needs and protect their lives and dignity…. A just spending bill cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor and vulnerable persons."

Faculty and priests at the Jesuit university, Georgetown (where Ryan delivered a speech last week), weighed in as well. In a letter to Ryan, they had this to say about the "Path to Prosperity":

"We must challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few… Cuts to anti-hunger programs have devastating consequences. Last year, one in six Americans lived below the official poverty level and over 46 million Americans – almost half of them children – used food stamps for basic nutrition. We also know how cuts in Pell Grants will make it difficult for low-income students to pursue their educations at colleges across the nation, including Georgetown. At a time when charities are strained to the breaking point and local governments have a hard time paying for essential services, the federal government must not walk away from the most vulnerable."

Consider the words—the barren clichés--from Ryan's path:

"Above all, this Path to Prosperity calls for a government faithful to its limited but noble mission: securing every American's right to pursue a destiny of his or her choosing. This budget rejects a culture of complacency, offers reforms that promote initiative by rewarding effort, and aims to restore the dynamism that has deï¬ned America over the generations."

Those words aren't likely to resonate with the people camping out to gain a chance for an application for a job as an ironworker--

hundreds in line

waiting for days for the chance. As the accompanying photograph shows, men and women, desperate to find a job in a tough economy, lined up in Queens this month for a chance at one of fifty jobs, some in line for more than a week!

Complacency? Entitlement mentality? Laziness? I don't think so. What people want are opportunities. And help when they need it, to feed their families, to hold out for jobs. Is our nation beyond caring? Don't morality, justice and mercy also matter?

Evidently, the Republicans, lead by Ryan, think "their politics" has found a theme that works.

I don't think they read the nation right. And, they certainly aren't appealing to the Catholic establishment.

Take a look at the Beatitudes:

The text of St. Matthew runs as follows:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It looks to me like Dorothy Day was inspired to create a path to social justice in America. Paul Ryan is doing his best to cut it off.