As we mourn the death of Pope Francis, we should remember his address to Congress on September 24, 2015, in which he called to mind four Americans who epitomized “a way of seeing and interpreting reality [enabling us] to draw upon our deepest cultural reserves.”

Understandably, the first figure was Abraham Lincoln.  Second was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life was dedicated to combating racism, militarism, and economic injustice.  This opens the door to two spiritual leaders definitely outside the mainstream:  Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day.

Merton was noteworthy for struggling not only against war in general but against nuclear war in particular.  See the 1961 poem “Original Child Bomb” as an example of how Merton combined art and activism through his variety of Catholicism.

Finally, Dorothy Day brought her home-grown activism to living and working with the poor in New York City.  She helped establish the Catholic Worker, a newspaper which still sells for 25 cents a year.  She considered herself a pacifist and participated in innumerable demonstrations against nuclear weapons.  A useful resource on Dorothy Day is the film Revolution of the Heart.

Editor’s Note: Professor Slaner retired in 2024 after 17 years of service to the college. In his time at Northern Essex, he served as chair of the global studies department and as adviser to the Global Politics Club. Slaner worked to establish a chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society at NECC and served as a faculty adviser for many years.