Ambassadors of God

In a world I won't see, but I wish I would, the biographies of some others here, including a few whom we serve lunch to, would be written and be read as eagerly as you say one of me would be read. --Dorothy Day

Ambassadors of God is a collection of remarkable obituaries taken from The Catholic Worker newspaper. Rich in anecdote, detail, and unexpected humor, they tell stories of men and women, living in poverty and distress, who were part of the New York Catholic Worker community. Written between 1936 and 2012, these essays shed light on people who might otherwise have been forgotten, but whose lives had a great impact on those who knew them and loved them.

The Catholic Worker and the movement that grew out of it were founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. As Catholics, they sought to live out the Works of Mercy, following the Gospel and the example of the saints. Even years after their deaths, the movement continues to welcome the poor and the stranger in a spirit of nonviolence. These obituaries honor those who came to the doors of The Catholic Worker in great need, and they offer a meditation on our shared humanity.

""The beautifully written, often inspiring, and always fascinating obituaries in this volume are not about death, but about life, specifically, the lives of the men and women--holy, not so holy, and trying to be holy--who passed through the doors of the Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality. Why not come to know some of the saints who are already praying for you from their posts in heaven?""
--James Martin, SJ, author of My Life with the Saints

""A most unusual and beautiful book! Those remembered are a gallery of diverse characters touched with pathos and illness, humor and creativity, sin and grace. The writing lifts each one up with rich concreteness. Their lives give new meaning to the dignity of being a human person, a child of God, in every kind of circumstance. Read it and be inspired.""
--Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ, author of Creation and the Cross: The Mercy of God for a Planet in Peril


""A classic piece of Catholic literature is The Lives of the Saints. What the Catholic Worker community has assembled here is an equal testament to the saintly lives of those who have crossed its threshold and brought heaven a little closer to this broken world.""
--Martin Sheen, actor and activist

""Open these pages to discover, or reconnect with, the meaning of life. It is not what we accomplish or amass. It is not our great works. It is who loves us, who grieves our deaths, who keeps saying our names. The people memorialized in this book built no fortunes but they lived, they mattered, they are remembered. This gentle reminder comes at the right time; amid the casual brutality and callous disregard that marks this epoch, we are invited to a new level of tenderness and awareness to the people around us.""
--Frida Berrigan, author of It Runs in the Family

""Ambassadors of God is the story of the heart of the Catholic Worker. This...