Voluntary poverty is a lifestyle made popular by Dorothy Day in the early twentieth-century. Read about the details of this lifestyle and see how it is still relevant today.
The term “voluntary poverty” is a technical term used in the Catholic Worker Movement. It is a lifestyle in which one seeks to own and use as little as possible. It involves an ongoing self-examination to identify what is necessary in one’s life, and what is possible.
Voluntary poverty is drastically different than involuntary poverty, or destitution. There is no free-will involved in a life of destitution. Those living a destitute life have no agency over their lives. Often there is little hope of providing the fundamental necessities of nourishing food, clean water, and adequate shelter for their families. This is not the poverty I am talking about. No one should aim for destitution.
Dorothy Day, founder of The Catholic Worker Movement
Servant of God Dorothy Day
Servant of God Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was born into a journalist family. At the urging of Peter Maurin, she founded The Catholic Worker newspaper to educate people about the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church. As the paper circulated, people looking for food and shelter came to Dorothy. Her apartment became a place for people to stay when they had nowhere else to go. Eventually the newspaper and Dorothy began to lease apartments and farms to house people. These became known as Catholic Worker Houses.
Dorothy Day on Voluntary Poverty
We must keep on talking about voluntary poverty, and holy poverty, because it is only if we can consent to strip ourselves that we can put on Christ. It is only if we love poverty that we are going to have the means to help others. If we love poverty we will be free to give up a job, to speak when we feel it would be wrong to be silent. We can only talk about voluntary poverty because we believe Christians must be fools for Christ. We can only embrace voluntary poverty in the light of faith.
Dorothy Day, The Catholic Worker, February 1945, 1-2
The Means to Help Others
Dorothy Days says that it is through voluntary poverty that we will have the means to help others. If all of our income is tied up in paying rent, paying off the mortgage and credit card bills there is little left to help the poor. As Catholics we must actively choose to live with just what we need, so we can give the poor what they need as well.
How do we determine what we actually need? Here Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is helpful. By voluntarily living with less we can help individuals meet their physiological and safety needs. The physiological needs include breathing, shelter, food, water. Safety needs include security of bodily needs, employment, resources, family, health and property.
The hierarchy of needs goes on from here through love and belonging, esteem, and finally self-actualization. These last three categories are more internal work that someone else cannot provide for an individual. What we can do is provide for the basic needs of others through a practice of voluntary poverty and thus give them the foundation needed to fulfill their own higher needs.
It is only if we strip ourselves we can put on Christ
“It is only if we strip ourselves we can put on Christ”. These words of Dorothy Day echo Christ’s, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). The message here is clear: to follow Christ we must strip ourselves of worldly things.
It is because of our fallen human nature that we are forever trying to make things other than Christ our god. The dopamine feedback we get when someone recognizes our talents or our fashionable dress or through social media wires our brain to want more of these things. It is a constant fight against our human nature to deny ourselves these things and to focus on Christ.
Christ offers us more than just dopamine-driven bodily pleasure. It is through life in Him that we can truly be fulfilled. It is through Him that we can bring others to true fulfillment. But first we have to get out of our own way by denying ourselves worldly goods. This reason alone is why minimalism and Catholicism go so well together. Through practicing the secular lifestyle of minimalism we can open ourselves up to a greater life in Christ.
Ways to Choose Voluntary Poverty
Dorothy Day was all about action. Living a life of voluntary poverty is a radical step, but year over year it becomes easier. A key component of voluntary poverty is needing to use less money. You will see in the list below that these are not just ways to deny oneself material goods, but how to live while using less money.
- Live more sustainably. Through sustainable living less money is exchanged for goods. One way to do this is growing food in a garden and eating what is ripe. Collect rainwater to water the garden and compost yard and kitchen waste to put nutrients back into the garden. Passive solar heating and light are also ways to live more sustainably.
- Support the local Gift Economy. Enthusiastically and freely give away possessions you have that someone else needs. The Buy Nothing Project is an easy way to connect material things with people who need them.
- Be creative with the resources you already have. Before you purchase something for a project look around and see if you have something that can do the job. Then ask your community and see if they have what you need. Individualism has no place in a Christocentric life of poverty. We are made for relationship with others and with Christ. We must foster this need and allow ourselves to lean on others so they many look to our example and lean on us in turn.
- Wait to upgrade technology and appliances until there is a true need. Older models of these things often work just as adequately as the “latest and greatest”.
- Repair clothes before replacing items. This becomes much easier if the clothing is made out of natural fibers. The visible mending movement is a great source of inspiration in how to attractively repair clothing.
Do you have any other suggestions on how to start living voluntary poverty? I would love to hear how you or your family is choosing to live out this ideal. Please share below in the comments!
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