Beloved Dorothy Day’s granddaughter, Martha Hennessy visited the Catholic Peace Fellowship Philadelphia on March 25th, 2017. Martha was welcomed as our guest. She joined maybe 60 CPF friends for a day of reflection and prayer. It was the Feast of the Annunciation and the anniversary of her mom’s death.
Many at the retreat shared how enriched they felt by the special charism that Martha seemed to radiate throughout her time with us. The morning was rich with remembrances of Dorothy and her only child, Tamar Hennessy (Martha’s mom). Martha’s morning talk offered many little pieces of the mosaic that was her grandmother’s life and unknown moments in the life of her own mother, Tamar.
Martha is the 7th of 9 grandchildren born to William David & Tamar Hennessy. Life with mom and dad was often living on the edge and at the same time somewhat carefree.
Martha and her sisters and brothers grew up on their farm in Weathersfield, Vermont. Often, summertime was spent on the CW Tivoli Farm located on the Hudson River north of the city. Martha shared that she was very much a child of her times. At 14, she and other family attended the famous Woodstock Music Festival. Family life at the Hennessy farm was unconventional. Tamar put her motherly energy into exploring alternative and organic ways of living and caring for family and others. Tamar, a nurse was known locally for her work in animal husbandry, being a weaver, growing herbs, & blending dyes for her yarns, Given Tamar’s devotion to their farm and creating healthy organic food, Martha suggested that her mom was somewhat a disciple of Peter Maurin and his ideas embracing the ‘agrarian way’.
During the summers spent at the Tivoli Farm, Martha and the other children had many adult companions and teachers from the New York Worker including Rita Corbin. Martha spoke of being estranged from the Catholic Church in her late teens and young adult life. Martha shared that when she was 25 and before her marriage to Steven, she was arrested protesting at Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire and served 3 months in prison for her actions in joining with hundreds of others protesting the construction of the plant. It was her very first arrest of the many that have followed over the years.
Martha spoke of the strong affection and bond that she and her mother had for her grandmother and for the gift of the Catholic Worker Community in New York City. After Dorothy passed away in November 1980, Martha devoted much of her time and energy to her work as an Occupational Therapist and to her family. Martha, Steven and other members of the family still call the farm in Weathersfield home.
But let me interrupt these reflections with a sharing from the very end of Martha’s weekend in Philadelphia. On our ride to the bus station, Martha opened up to me about a turning point in her commitment to become more fully
engaged in the efforts to stand up for the poor and to become a voice against our country’s embrace of war and preparing for war! In October of 2002 as the war in Afghanistan was well under way, Martha was invited to participate in “The Women’s National Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony” in Seneca Falls, New York. The annual gathering was an organized way to honor people who had made an outstanding contribution toward the betterment of our communities all across the country.
Martha was asked to be there on behalf of her grandmother, Dorothy Day. Hundreds were gathered in Seneca, along with a handful of real dignitaries who joined her on stage. It was Martha’s turn. She stood up to offer a short reflection on a few of the spiritual virtues and the strengths in Dorothy’s fierce character. Gifts of the Spirit that fortified Dorothy and her community at the Catholic Worker on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Martha spoke of granny’s personal courage to just stand up for the human rights of the downtrodden and the voiceless that her community cared for every day. After the program, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg came over to take her hand. First Lady Rosalyn Carter also gave her a supportive nod.
With a bit of awe in her voice Martha told me, that it was at the moment that she understood more clearly her own responsibility to take a stand for justice especially when and where people of less means or voice could not. In a fresh, new way Martha Hennessy started to slowly, awaken to a brand new understanding of her life’s purpose and for a cause larger than self and family; instead a cause that seemingly is embracing life all around the globe.
Over lunch, Martha listened to the ideas and concerns of a few members of the CPF community. Martha’s focus for the afternoon session focused all of us on the challenges facing each of us and the world community at large. She referenced a ‘new corporal work of mercy’: Caring for Mother Earth! She spoke of “Laudato Si’” Pope Francis’s encyclical on safeguarding the earth. She mentioned the early writings of Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) and more recently, Naomi Klein, who recently made the point that everything is moot if we don’t address the wellsprings of the earth.
Martha Hennessy called us all to be faithful to the gospels, and their call to embrace the path of nonviolence. Martha asked all of us to use our voices and to rise up against the hatred and fear that has infested our own society and seems to be permeating other nations around the globe. Martha echoed the call of Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, who told a gathering “Well now, we must all become disruptors.” He spoke at the U.S. regional gathering for the World Meeting of Popular Movements in February 2017. (Catholic News Agency, 2/22/17) Martha remembered us to Dorothy’s call to strengthen our practice of prayer, to live and work in community and to be ever present in solidarity with poor and those in prison.
Finally, Martha Hennessy pointed out to us, what is most human in all of us, our personal insecurities, our brokenness and the ever fragile nature of our lives. In doing so, Martha was encouraging us in a simple way to be ever attentive to our ‘spiritual vigils’ and our ‘political vigils’ as well!
Johanna Berrigan of the Philly House of Grace CW said it best in her introduction: She suggested that Martha was working with her finger on the pulse of being a compassionate person. It was an insight that we all might embrace.
