Dorothy Day on State Aid

Of course...as Pope Pius XI has pointed out, in times of crisis the state must intervene for the common good.  In times of depression, in times of national catastrophe, the state had the duty to take care of the homeless, the poverty-stricken.  But even in those times, it is to be understood that all Christians, all men of goodwill, do their share first, in order to relieve the state of much of the burden.  It is only after we have used all our own resources that we should call upon the state.  It is only when our own insurance, our bank savings, our families, our own church can no longer care for us that we should look to the state.--Dorothy Day, quoted in William D. Miller, Dorothy Day: A Biography, pg. 281-282.