Dorothy Day was a woman who lived in the early to mid 1900s. She was a reporter who fought women’s suffrage and worked for social causes like pacifism. Later in her life, she started a homeless shelter and become a very religious person. She based her ministry and her teachings of off the seven Catholic Social Teachings. The two most important themes in her life were Life and Dignity of the Human Person and Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. She upheld these themes in her daily life, but she also violated them as well.
Life and Dignity of the Human Person is the belief that human life is sacred and the “dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society”(Catholic Social Teaching Themes Handout). The church considers human life is being violated by abortion, euthanasia, cloning, embryonic stem cell research and the death penalty. The church believes that everybody is sacred, that human life is more important than any non-living object in the world and that every institution is judged on whether or not it enhances human life and dignity, too.
…show more content…
She did not want to go through with the abortion, but Lionel Moise, the man who got her pregnant, convinced her to do it. But after she had the abortion, he left her and never saw her ever again. Later in Day’s life she upheld this theme when she got pregnant again and would not allow anybody to convince her to have an abortion. She ended up giving birth to a girl named Tamar. Another example of Dorothy Day upholding this theme is whenever somebody wanted to stay at the settlement home with her, she let them stay there even if they were full. This is an example of Life and Dignity of the Human Person because if the people stayed outside they could die whether it was from the cold, from starvation or even from