With a few exceptions, every class at St. Ambrose College included social justice. Marv and his friends had no money, so on weekends they took their dates to someone’s house to discuss things like the social encyclicals or the liturgy. It was cutting edge. The atmosphere was exciting.
At St. Ambrose, Marv accepted his calling to be a priest, which he had wrestled with for seven years. The observe, judge, act approach he learned in Young Christian Students became a tool he used throughout his life. The hands-on work at Cooks Point gave him practical experience to consolidate what he learned in his courses.
Social Action Basics
Excerpts from an interview in October, 2014. Fr. Mottet talked about some
of the early lessons he learned about effective social action.