A Relevant Digression: "...an Emptiness That Lingers"

This icon sits among many other things on the office mantelpiece of Our Lady of Vilnius.

Today, in his "New York Times" column entitled Five Years On, An Emptiness That Lingers, Dan Barry visits the site of Dorothy Day's five-year-gone bungalow on Staten Island, referring to its destruction as "the scene of an old crime against spirituality". The tone, the descriptions, the reminiscences of a neighbor all put me very much in mind of Our Lady of Vilnius. I can imagine Dorothy Day pulling up a chair after Mass and talking to Father Eugene. It's just that kind of place.

I pray that there will not be an emptiness that lingers on Broome Street, and that Dorothy's image will rest on the mantelpiece for many years to come.

Marquette University has an online exhibit called Dorothy Day: The Staten Island Years that features pictures and letters from her youthful years on Raritan Bay.