Mottet to be recognized for activism

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By Deirdre Cox Baker | Friday, September 05, 2008 |

Monsignor Marvin Mottet greets friends at a meeting sponsored by Quad-Cities Interfaith to learn about immigration issues. (Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

The tables have turned on the Iowa farm boy who grew to be a mostly behind-the-scenes activist for social justice and now is about to receive a top honor for his life’s efforts.

Monsignor Marvin Mottet, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport, will formally receive the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in an Oct. 19 ceremony at St. Ambrose University, Davenport.

Mottet couldn’t be more surprised. He founded the award, which for

37 years has gone to such luminaries as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa. He still serves on the board that selects each honoree and arranges the ceremony.

“I never, ever dreamed I would get this,” he said with well-known modesty. “I missed two meetings, and that’s how it happened.”

“We knew he’d chide us for doing this,” said John Kiley, social action director for the diocese and a member of the Pacem in Terris committee. “He’s very, very humble, not a grand-stander at all.”

Farm beginnings

The 78-year-old Mottet grew up in Ottumwa, Iowa, where his father worked on the railroad and farmed.

“My dad, he had a seventh-grade education, but he was widely read and very involved in civic affairs,” he said.

The young boy would hang around with his father and friends, who talked about current affairs when they visited the Mottet home.

“That had a big impact on me,” the monsignor said.

He graduated from high school and was out working in a cornfield one day when the local priest stopped by.

“He said he was headed to Davenport and had room in a car if I wanted to go to St. Ambrose,” Mottet said.

Mottet went home to consult with his father and took up the priest’s offer. It was 1948.

Since then, Mottet has made his mark, especially in the social justice arena. He graduated from college and taught at Assumption High School, inspiring students who included Kiley and Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Mottet focused much of his energy on the civil rights movement.

“There was a tremendous spirit and amazing people associated with civil rights reform,” he said. “There was nothing else like it.”

He worked for some time in Chicago on social justice issues, and for seven years lived in Washington, D.C., where he became national director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

He returned to the Quad-Cities in the mid-1980s to pastor at Sacred Heart Cathedral. He has founded or led several local service organizations, including Project Renewal, Quad-City Interfaith, Interfaith Housing Corp. and Legal Aid.

“Doing good things with father is like getting 10 extra points,” said Kiley, who most recently has helped coordinate efforts to reform immigration law. “He’s just such a beacon for so many people.”

Many voice respect

The bedrock of the social justice movement resides in this community, said Kai Swanson, executive assistant to the president of Augustana College, Rock Island. Swanson, a member of the Pacem in Terris board, said the award committee continues to set high standards for future honorees, and Mottet has fittingly earned the honor in 2008.

“Throughout his life and career, Monsignor Mottet has done this work with grace and humility,” Swanson said. “He’s an inspiration to many.”

Bishop Martin Amos agrees. The head of the Davenport diocese said Mottet exemplifies the epistle of St. James, who encourages followers to practice the faith they profess.

“For many years, he has encouraged others to seek the causes of social injustice and work to rectify them,” he said.

The priest has helped people from all over the world, said Vietnamese immigrant Simon Cotran, who owns a jewelry store in west Davenport.

“He treats everyone as a brother or sister,” Cotran said. “I am very happy to work with him, and I really love him. He’s a wonderful Christian.”

Mottet’s ability as a visionary is well accepted.

“We are lucky to have a real hero in Davenport,” said Loxi Hopkins, who heads the diocesan Campaign for Human Development, which is Mottet’s former job. The approach he has taken toward social justice can now be found in practice all over the United States.

“He’s just a hard worker who never gives up,” Hopkins said. “He inspires everyone else to do the same.”

There are heroes aplenty in the realm of politics, history and the military, Swanson said, adding, “The heroes in peace and justice likewise deserve our attention.”

Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award winners

1964 (posthumous) — John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, awakened a hope that no problem was too great to conquer — race relations, violence or poverty — when citizens work together.

1964 — John Howard Griffin’s powerful book, “Black Like Me,” showed how people are too often judged not by character but by skin color.

1965 — The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged others to dream of a world transformed through nonviolent civil rights activism.

1966 — Sargent Shriver, first director of the Peace Corps, taught that one person can make a difference.

1967 — A. Philip Randolph’s efforts to organize railway employees conveyed the belief that the dignity of work must be rewarded with a just wage.

1968 — Father James Groppi was a radical spirit who worked in Milwaukee to end the injustice of unfair housing and racial prejudice.

1969 — Saul Alinsky’s book, “Reveille for Radicals,” taught how to act together in promoting justice in society.

1972 — Dorothy Day, who established the Catholic Worker Movement, found dignity in the faces of the poor.

1974 — Sen. Harold Hughes brought the spirit of the Gospel to his efforts on behalf of the peace movement, equal education, civil rights, the elderly and opposition to capital punishment.

1975 — Dom Helder Camara, gentle shepherd of the poor of northwestern Brazil, embraced the impoverished and gave sharp prophecy to the wealthy.

1976 — Mother Teresa of Calcutta lived a radical Christianity that gave hope to the despairing and offered light to those living in the dark world of abject poverty.

1979 — Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a quiet yet firm advocate of peace, challenged church leadership to embrace peaceful means of settling disputes.

1980 — Crystal Lee Sutton’s leadership in organized labor underscored the powerful role of women in the workplace, reminding that equal work demands equal pay.

1980 — Bishop Ernest Unterkoefler’s advocacy for the rights of workers helped to buoy the labor movement among the poor in Appalachia.

1982 — George Kennan, statesman and diplomat, realized that the only hope for solving the world’s problems lies in abandoning violence.

1983 — Helen M. Caldicott’s work as a physician and peace advocate gave her a powerful voice that spoke on behalf of the world’s children in the face of possible nuclear holocaust.

1985 — Cardinal Joseph Bernardin taught through his notion of the “seamless garment” that all life is God-given and therefore precious.

1986 — Bishop Maurice Dingman’s activism in peace, justice and rural issues embodied his love for the land.

1987 — Archbishop Desmond Tutu helped free South Africa from the yoke of apartheid, teaching the entire world that racial injustice is sacrilege.

1989 — Eileen Egan’s work with the organization Pax Christi provided witness to the many contributions of women in addressing the world’s problems through creative nonviolence.

1990 — Mairead Corrigan Maguire’s work in Ireland became a global protest against violence toward children in the name of religion, politics and economics.

1991 — Maria Julia Hernandez directed the Human Rights Committee in El Salvador, which worked to record and publicize the atrocities committed in that nation’s long civil war.

1992 — Cesar Chavez led the United Farm Workers to become a strident voice for workers who had long been disenfranchised.

1993 — Father Daniel Berrigan, a poet, prophet and priest, offered powerful witness on behalf of peace and justice during and since the Vietnam War.

1995 — Jim Wallis, founder of the Sojourner Christian community, brought people to faith and to action in espousing radical social engagement.

1996 — Bishop Samuel Ruiz lent great courage to his fight against violence and injustice inflicted against the poor and oppressed of Mexico’s Chiapas region.

1997 — Jim and Shelley Douglass, the only married couple to receive the award, have been steadfast in their efforts to build a world of peace based on justice.

1998 — Sister Helen Prejean’s loving presence on death row has fostered reconciliation and spiritual healing to those too often considered beyond the bounds of humanity.

1999 — Adolfo Pérez Esquivel inspired the world with his Gospel-rooted work on behalf of Argentina’s “disappeared ones.”

2000 — Monsignor George Higgins wove together communities of faith and organized labor to support economic justice with strength that is both political and spiritual.

2001 — Lech Walesa’s heroic efforts to defend the rights of workers in the face of Communist repression in Poland made him a global leader for freedom and democracy.

2002 — Sisters Dorothy Marie and Gwen Hennessey, siblings and Dubuque Franciscans, devoted their lives and ministry to local activism on global issues of peace and justice.

2004 — Arthur Simon, founder of Bread for the World, showed how one person can make a difference alleviating world hunger.

2005 — Don Mosley of Jubilee Partners, and co-founder of Habitat for Humanity, served others by offering hospitality to refugees, housing for the homeless and mediation to situations of war.

2007 — Bishop Salim Ghazal of Lebanon worked to bridge the gap between Christians and Muslims in his native land.

— Source: Pacem in Terris committee

IF YOU GO

Monsignor Marvin Mottet will be honored at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, when he receives the 2008 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award.

The event is at Christ the King Chapel on the campus of St. Ambrose University, Davenport. A public reception will follow the ceremony, which is expected to last about 45 minutes. Events will wrap up at 5:30 p.m.

“Monsignor Mottet has inspired a whole new generation of leaders to become involved in the social ministry. I hope that many who have been inspired by him can join us for this event to recognize his work,” said Bishop Martin Amos, head

of the Roman Catholic Diocese of

Davenport.

Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com.