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Title: Comrades Stumbling Along:
The Friendship of Catherine de Hueck Doherty and Dorothy Day as Revealed through Their Letters

Editor: Robert Wild 
ISBN: 0-8189-1286-3 
Paperback: xii + 176 pp. 
Price: $14.95 + shipping 

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The causes for the canonization of both Catherine de Hueck Doherty and Dorothy Day have been opened with the trust that, with the grace of God, these two great laywomen saints will one day be recognized by the Church as outstanding Saints (with a capital "S") of God. The friendship of these two was very deep, holy, and lasting. If they hadn't been so united in Christ in the lay apostolic movements they were responsible for (Madonna House and the Catholic Worker Movement) out of zeal for the Kingdom of God, their differences might not have drawn them together in any kind of relationship approaching friendship. They had quite different personalities and approaches to almost everything. Their relationship, however, as proved by the correspondence between them over many years (published for the first time in this book), is a profound example of how Christ can bind together people of very diverse temperaments and backgrounds and unite them in love by the power of the Holy Spirit, thus inspiring us all.
 
Father Bob Wild was ordained to the priesthood for the diocese of Buffalo, New York in 1967. He has been a member of the Madonna House Community founded by Catherine Doherty since 1971. For most of that time he has lived the poustinia way of life, spending several days a week in silence, prayer, and writing. Cathering describes the spirit of the poustinia in her book by that name. He has edited a number of Catherine's books as well as shared the fruits of his solitude with several books of his own meditations. His trilogy on Catherine's spirituality was published by Alba House. Since 1990 he has been the postulator for Catherine's cause for canonization. The present book is part of a continuing attempt to make Catherine's life and spirituality better known to the Church at large. 



Reviews

Meconi says Doherty's soul was "as puckish as it was pious." Founder of Madonna House in Ontario, she had remembered warmly from her early childhood in Russia, her parents' Marian icon, "ancient and dark with time, but sparkling with family gems." This book is not a biography but it gives a sense of holiness that is both private and public, interor and social and ecclesial. It is good to be in on their interrelationship. Day also corresponded with Merton. Both women preceded Merton in having some degree of fame, but in their kind of efforts neither woman preceded the other. In fame, but maybe not in influence, Merton is first, then Day, and then "the B," (her close friends' term for Baroness de Hueck). --Philip C. Fisher, SJ in Review for Religious, 68.4 2009

Comrades: The causes for the canonization of both Catherine de Hueck Doherty and Dorothy Day have been opened. The friendship of these two was very deep, holy, and lasting. They had quite different personalities and approaches to almost everything, as shown in their letters, which have been compiled by Fr. Bob Wild in Comrades Stumbling Along: The Friendship of Catherine de Hueck Doherty and Dorothy Day as Revealed through Their Letters. Their relationship, however, is a profound example of how Christ can bind together people of very diverse temperaments and backgrounds and unite them in love by the power of the Holy Spirit, thus inspiring us all. If they hadn't been so united in Christ in the lay apostolic movements they were responsible for (Madonna House and the Catholic Worker Movement) out of zeal for the Kingdom of God, their differences might not have drawn them together in any kind of relationship approaching friendship. --Crux of the News, May 11, 2009.

I was mightily impressed by this great labor of love. It is a somewhat specialized book, of course, but I am naturally one of those who read it with rapt fascination. You are probably aware that I am editing Dorothy's letters -- a companion project to The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day which I published last year. Your book included a number of letters from Dorothy, especially early ones, which for some reason hadn't been copied to the Catholic Worker archives. What is more, seeing Catherine's side of the correspondence helped me greatly to understand Dorothy Day's letters better. It was a relationship marked by so much affection, despite obvious differences. Thank you for this! --Robert Ellsberg, Senior Editor of the Modern Spiritual Masters Series and author of The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day, Marquette University Press, 2008.

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