From the Staten Island Advance:
A petition is calling for a Staten Island Ferry honoring Catholic social activist and borough resident Dorothy Day. Sally Kennedy of New Brighton wants one of three new boats being added to the city’s ferry fleet to be named for the writer, religious figure and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement because of her legacy. “Dorothy Day did a lot of charity work and lived a compassionate life and is an inspirational woman,” Kennedy said. Kennedy started a petition and so far there’s just one signature. But Kennedy is urging other Islanders and the city to use Day’s name to remember the importance of community work. Day, considered by the Vatican for sainthood, was baptized at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Tottenville in 1927. She spent much of her life caring for poor on Staten Island and beyond, helping begin a cooperative farm in Bloomingdale Road in Pleasant Plains in 1950 with French philosopher Peter Maurin. Their Catholic Worker Movement also offered food and shelter to the destitute during the Depression. Pope Francis invoked her as a model for social activism and her work for the poor and the oppressed during an address to a joint session of Congress last year. Kennedy said this is reason enough for a ferry to be named for Day. But she said that the city should especially consider honoring a woman. “Staten Island has a lot of extraordinary women and we should be celebrating that,” Kennedy said. There are eight ferries currently in the city’s fleet. Only one is named after a woman — the Alice Austen. Read more.
Want to sign the petition? Visit this link.
Photo: Wikipedia
And today we celebrate...