When she arrived in Brazil, it soon became clear that serving the poor was not going to be an apolitical proposition. It was a pivotal era, with Latin American bishops boldly applying the teachings of the gospel to local injustices. Dorothy helped establish dozens of the "base ecclesial communities" that were springing up throughout Latin America: lay-led cooperatives for both spiritual development and economic empowerment. She learned Portuguese and local indigenous languages, set up schools, and repeatedly, persistently, filed legal claims on behalf of small farmers whose land was being stolen.