The Catholic Worker Movement, widely known for its critique of violence and capitalism in American culture, has largely neglected racism. This seems surprising because its urban houses of hospitality, staffed mostly by middle-class whites, provide material resources disproportionately to impoverished African Americans. The movement's embodiment as a white movement and the failure of its founders (Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin) to prioritize racial justice has impeded its ability to adequately confront racism. This article contrasts the ways in which racism was addressed by the founders with the way it was addressed by two prominent African American Catholic Workers. The article includes a new Catholic Worker narrative to explain the movement's relationship with racial justice and offer suggestions for ways the movement can mine its own rich resources to become an authentically anti-racist movement.

The radical Catholic movement that takes its name from the Catholic Worker paper and the communities inspired by it has had an important influence on the life of the Church both in the United States, where it was founded, and elsewhere in the world. This paper looks at ways in which its distinctive theological vision and praxis can revive and focus the presentation and living-out of Catholic Social teaching in this country – particularly with regard to unconditional love for the poor, a commitment to pacifism, and a grounding of this work in Catholic sacramental and devotional life.