A year ago, Katie Holler was on maternity leave, and she couldn’t shake feeling worried.
The news was full of tragic stories about immigration enforcement efforts, several mentioning mothers separated from young children. Holler took these stories deeply to heart. She told Aleteia:
As a postpartum mom, that idea of being separated from your breastfeeding baby hit me really hard. I felt called to do something. It felt like a moment where the Catholic Church needed to respond.
But what could she do? A social worker and young mother living in Steubenville, Ohio, Holler’s days were already full with work and family. And she didn’t have any kind of national platform.
Then two social media posts began an unexpected grassroots movement that quickly skyrocketed.
Holler posted on Facebook groups for Catholic women and Catholic mothers, asking if anyone else was feeling a similar frustration, and if others wanted to meet to talk about it.
It turned out she was far from the only one.
Twelve women took part in a Zoom call on May 21, 2025, while many more expressed interest in helping out somehow. “Then we spent a couple weeks being very prayerful and intentional in discerning what our response would be,” she recalled.
They all agreed that Catholic Social Teaching needs to be much more widely known and put into action — and they wanted to do something about it. From that one call, The Dorothea Project was born — and it’s just getting started.
"You’re not alone"
The Dorothea Project has a clear and simple mission: to educate people about Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and to “act in defense of vulnerable people whenever human rights and human dignity are violated.”
As their website puts it, “We exist to pray, form, and show up — especially when silence is easier.”
And show up, they have. Those 12 women are now part of a community with more than 1,200 members — a growth of a hundredfold in one year. Those women come from all possible walks of life, spanning a wide range of ages, ethnicities, political backgrounds, and faith journeys. Holler said:
So many women join us and say, “I thought I was alone. I thought I was the only one.”
Early on, the group chose three patron saints: Servant of God Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement; Servant of God Thea Bowman, a Black Catholic religious sister and popular speaker; and Our Lady of Sorrows. (The name “Dorothea” is an amalgamation of “Dorothy” and “Thea.”)
Regarding their last patron, “Sorrow was what brought so many of us together,” Holler said. “Sorrow was the thing that united us in this moment of suffering.”
Taking action
“When you get women on a mission, we’re go-go-go,” Holler said. The action the group has taken in under a year is extraordinary, and includes the following:
- Spearheaded a viral national campaign to “adopt a bishop” for whom to offer prayers
- Compiled a curriculum for CST education efforts at local parishes
- Reached out with calls and letters to bishops asking them to issue statements in response to human rights violations
- Created printable postcards and call scripts for reaching out to political representatives
- Gave a public witness of prayer and/or protest tied to Catholic feast days (the group calls these “feast day actions,” and so far they have included the feasts of St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Oscar Romero, and the Conversion of St. Paul)
- Collaborated with Catholic writer and speaker Meg Hunter-Kilmer on a short video about St. Oscar Romero for his feast day
- Partnered with Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, for another video about the life of St. Oscar Romero
What’s coming up next for the group is an action for the anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII's landmark encyclical, issued May 15, 1891. Written during the Industrial Revolution, Rerum Novarum addresses workers' rights and the dignity of work, and is seen as the foundation for modern Catholic social teaching.
Why now?
Holler and the other members of The Dorothea Project firmly believe that CST is the solution to so many modern societal ills:
So many of these issues could be solved, and have a stronger Catholic response, if more Catholics knew the social doctrine of the Church and saw the world and our country through that lens first… It feels like a moment that needs a big response from Catholics. We can bring such a strong moral authority when we're in line with our faith.
At a time when there is widespread confusion about the best way to handle all kinds of problems, the women of The Dorothea Project believe Catholic doctrine holds the answer. And they’re inviting you to join them:
For anyone, from any background — if you’re now in a moment of wanting to build up and honor human dignity — there’s space in The Dorothea Project for you.
