Theology Thursday welcomes Dorothy Day Tampa

Leaders of Dorothy Day Tampa joined University Ministry for the March Theology Thursday to present a lively and challenging discussion about what “radical hospitality” looks like in serving those living on the margins of Dade City, Tampa, and worldwide.

All Theology Thursday events are open to faculty and staff, in addition to Saint Leo students. The next Theology Thursday will be held at 6 p.m., Thursday, April 20, in TECO Hall in the Tapia College of Business building, and will feature Saint Leo alumna Hannah Wiand, campus minister at St. Petersburg High School. Her talk, “Living the Encounter,” will focus on how we are to live out our encounters with God.

The March 23 event focused on how to better serve the poor around us. Dorothy Day Tampa was founded in 2022 by Ann and Michael Doyle with a mission: “Recruit and train volunteers in the Catholic Worker tradition, which recognizes the dignity of each person, provides relief, hospitality and housing assistance to homeless men and women in the Tampa area.”

Dorothy Day was an American journalist and social activist, who co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement. “We must talk about poverty, because people insulated by their own comfort lose sight of it,” Day wrote.

Those attending Theology Thursday learned of Dorothy Day Tampa’s efforts and mission, which is similar to the Rule of St. Benedict, which states, “all guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.”

“DD Tampa will begin as a house of hospitality homeless drop-in center, inspired by the Catholic Worker Movement that began simply enough on May 1, 1933, by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin,” the website states. “DD Tampa will be different by design from other Tampa agencies and ministries. Rather than reduce guests to their physical needs, we will seek to meet their spiritual, social, and emotional needs, as well – in recognition, as Dorothy Day wrote, ‘that they are Jesus.’”

The speakers explained the efforts of one of the ministry partners, Breadcoin Tampa, which was launched in February at Portico Café, Dorothy Day Tampa’s first food vendor. Breadcoin Tampa is a food token that functions like a gift certificate, providing a meal to those in need, with the dignity of choice about when and where to eat. Each Breadcoin is valued at $2.50 and redeemed at participating locations.

For more information about Dorothy Day Tampa, visit https://www.dorothydaytampa.org/.

For information on University Ministry, visit https://ministry.saintleo.edu/.

Photos by Isaac Jeter

View photos from the Theology Thursday event below: