The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J. Catholic and Anarchist: The Spiritual Wisdom of Dorothy Day
Mar 31, 2026
Robert Ellsberg, longtime editor of Orbis Books who edited Dorothy Day’s journals, recalls life at the Catholic Worker and his path into Catholicism. He reflects on Dorothy Day’s ordinary holiness, the improvisational rhythm of houses of hospitality, encountering God in nature, and how saints and small acts shape spiritual attention.
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Harvard Student Becomes Catholic Worker Editor
- Robert Ellsberg dropped out of Harvard in 1975 and became managing editor of The Catholic Worker at age 20 despite not being a Catholic.
- He lived and worked at the house, ran the soup kitchen, and learned improvisational service that shaped his vocation and conversion.
Catholic Worker Days Were Spiritually Improvisational
- Life at the Catholic Worker was improvisational: soup kitchens, emergencies, deaths, protests, and unplanned encounters defined daily rhythm.
- Ellsberg describes being trained in abandonment to divine providence and presence amid unpredictable crises.
Day's Unconventional Canon Shaped Spiritual Formation
- Dorothy Day cultivated a broad 'canon' of prophets, writers, and activists alongside traditional saints, shaping a living spirituality for volunteers.
- Ellsberg credits Day for opening him to saints and diverse witnesses who informed his editorial vocation.
