Dorothy Day

While a student at the University of Illinois, Day became a socialist; at the age of 30, she converted to Catholicism. In New York City during the Great Depression, she and fellow-activist Peter Maurin founded the Catholic Worker Movement which today has "chapter houses" in cities around the world. This movement's objectives were to improve the social order and alleviate the suffering caused by injustice. Its activities ranged from labor activism, to giving food and shelter to the homeless, to anti-war protests. Day was a strong advocate for pacifism and non-violence. Even during World War II, she promoted conscientious objection; Vatican II later affirmed this as an option for Christians in wartime. Day also founded The Catholic Worker as a forum for radical Catholic social thought; its concerns overlap with those of liberation theology.