Patrick Jordan, who died on October 2, was a man of deep faith who internalized the Beatitudes and practiced the works of mercy daily. He also believed that Christians have a responsibility to shape society, guided by the Church’s teachings on social justice. He exercised that responsibility primarily through writing.
Pat spent nearly forty years as an editor (ultimately, managing editor) of two national publications: The Catholic Worker and Commonweal. He wrote beautifully. He could create ambience, turn a phrase, tell a story; wax eloquent, poetic, or poignant; be witty or wry. And he penned powerful, award-winning editorials.
As a young man, Pat had studied with the Franciscans in California before deciding to move to New York City in 1968 to volunteer at the Catholic Worker. There he met Dorothy Day, who needed help editing The Catholic Worker newspaper. She decided to trust Pat’s Franciscan education and commitment and invited him to join the staff.
The microworld of the Worker was a very different kind of Christian community than the Franciscans: a study in contrast. Then, as now, the Catholic Workers and guests—formerly homeless men and women—lived together in the houses of hospitality, where they ate and prayed. Residents voluntarily shared housekeeping chores. Some folded and labeled each issue of the newspaper in preparation for mailing. The Friday night lectures and discussions, led by some of the nation’s most prominent activists and intellectuals, were open to anyone and everyone—which is exactly who came.
Pat’s experience at the Worker helped him clarify his vocation. He met Kathleen DeSutter, a Worker and nursing student; they married in 1972. The couple worked closely with Day for three more years, residing in the same building, the St. Joseph House. The Jordans then took a break from the Worker, during which time their daughter Hannah was born, but they returned to New York City in 1977.
Dorothy Day was eighty years old at the time. A friend at the Worker suggested that the Jordans live at Spanish Camp, a cluster of bungalows on the south shore of Staten Island, where Day spent a lot of time. (It was important to her because she had lived nearby at the time of her conversion and the birth of her daughter, Tamar.) They liked the idea. Kathleen found a job as a hospital nurse, Pat as a nursing assistant at St. Rose’s Home for patients with incurable cancer. As Day’s neighbors, they offered her company and support. They shared meals, stories, and walks on the beach. Pat and Kathleen soon welcomed a son, Justin. The neighbors remained close until Day’s death in 1980. Later, Pat used his writing skills to spotlight Day. He edited Dorothy Day: Writings from Commonweal (2002) and Hold Back Nothing: Writings by Dorothy Day (2016), and he wrote Dorothy Day: Love in Action (2015). When the Archdiocese of New York took up the effort to canonize Day, Pat and Kathleen were asked to join the effort, and they became deeply involved in it.
Pat joined Commonweal as an editor in 1984, working there for twenty-eight years until retiring in 2012. His writings were many and varied. A pacifist, Pat educated himself in nuclear weaponry and strategy, disarmament, international affairs, and peacemaking efforts. (His expertise made him a go-to editor on these topics during the years I worked with him at Commonweal.) While Pat was habitually courtly and kind, Patrick the journalist could ask tough questions. In a 1984 interview with New York governor Mario Cuomo, he described the governor’s favorite saint, Thomas More, as a man of “no small ambition,” adding: “The same has been said of you. What is the relationship between public service and personal ambition?” Pat was diligent, prepared, and collegial. He was a helpful, vital member of the editorial team. No self-promoter, he didn’t push his deeply held opinions onto colleagues, but he did make his positions clear. When he disagreed, he did so respectfully. For Pat, Commonweal was not merely a job. Rather, it was an expression of his commitment as a writer to promote respectful public dialogue on the most important social issues of the day. He relished the magazine’s role in educating and engaging a community of readers in the application of Catholic social teaching here and now.
Personally, Pat embraced his multifaceted vocation as a journalist, family man (husband, father, grandfather), neighbor, colleague, and friend. Love in Action, the subtitle of Pat’s book of reflections on Dorothy Day, aptly describes his own life.
