Is Dorothy Day Suitable for Canonization?


The above link is to an article written in Crisis Magazine by Fr. Brandon O'Brien, a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre who was ordained in 2013.  He seems to take the 'nope' position to the headline question:


"Dorothy Day’s cause is different. In light of Day’s positions concerning some of the most horrific and deadly events of the twentieth century, she is anything but an “attractive possibility” for sainthood. In her lifetime, Day publically advocated various Communist regimes linked to the Soviet Union. Western intellectuals who supported these regimes knew that they consisted of anti-Catholic, atheist governments whose public policy was the firing squad. Often, as was the case with Spain, these regimes were even condemned by the Church’s magisterium. If Lumen Gentium is a blueprint for the modern Christian’s path to holiness and sanctity, it would appear that Day’s support for a Spanish government condemned by Pius XI is not in keeping with the exhortation that Christians “follow in [Christ’s] footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things.” Her tacit approval of the violence of Castro’s atheist regime in Cuba is also a stumbling block to the call for Christians to “manifest to all men the love with which God loved the world.”


This article comes right on the heels of this announcement from the Archdiocese of New York:

"The Cause for Dorothy Day’s possible eventual beatification and canonization moved into a new phase today as Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, opened the canonical Inquiry on the life of the Catholic Worker movement founder, gathering evidence to determine if Dorothy Day lived a life of “heroic virtue” in the eyes of the Church. "