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Our Diocesan Social Action Office's Two Feet Newsletter is distributed monthly via email.
Our monthly publication contains news, information, and calls to action.  

Mazahir Salih, executive director of the Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County (IWNJC) speaks at a Voices of Resilience event, IWNJC’s monthly immigrant and refugee storytelling gathering. Mazahir Salih arrived in the U.S. from Sudan in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering to seek a better life and new opportunities. In the nearly 30 years since then, Mazahir, 53, discovered her voice as an advocate for the common good in Johnson County, where she lives, seeking to ensure that all people have the opportunity to thrive.  

Three years ago, Mazahir, who serves on the Iowa City City Council, co-founded the Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County because she recognized challenges that needed to be addressed. She serves as the nonprofit’s executive director.

“Through our work with immigrant families, we saw people becoming homeless within days of arriving in the community. The traditional shelter system was often full, and even when space was available, it was not always designed with the needs of newly arrived immigrant and refugee families in mind. We knew we needed to create something different,” Mazahir said.

Msgr. Marvin Mottet taught us how to walk using our Two Feet of Social Action – one for meeting immediate needs and the other for working to bring about systemic change to address those needs. On Sept. 16, we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of this leading voice for social justice and action in the Diocese of Davenport and far beyond. 
 
This month’s Two Feet of Social Action newsletter features the stories of people and organizations inspired by the example of Msgr. Mottet and who carry on his legacy, meeting people’s needs while also working to bring about change that serves the common good. On his deathbed, Msgr. Mottet, who preferred to be called Father Mottet, told his close friend and colleague Dan Ebener that he wanted the faithful to “get to work.” 
 
We have our marching orders, which remain relevant and even more urgent during this time in our nation’s history where some are thriving at the expense of so many others. People’s needs go wanting, funding cuts at the state and federal level hinder efforts to effect change that serves the common good, and many of our neighbors are not being treated with human dignity.
 
Our call to action begins with prayer, Scripture, the Mass, the sacraments and a desire to learn, each element working together to create the foundation for Father Mottet’s work in social action and justice. From this foundation, we can move on to the many issues that call us to respond with the talents, skills, resources and faith with which we have been blessed. Among the issues and the resources to help us discern our responses:

Persons, places, books and extraordinary and ordinary experiences throughout his 67 years on God’s earth have inspired Father Bud Grant in his commitment to and passion for social action and justice.

Today, he teaches environmental theology, historical theology and philosophy at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, directs the Academy for the Study of St. Ambrose of Milan and serves as sacramental minister at St. Andrew Parish in Blue Grass and St. Mary Parish in Wilton.

Asked to identify his family, he says, “my parents, eight brothers and sisters, their spouses, 14 nephews and nieces, my friends, St. Ambrose University students, faculty, staff, administrators, benefactors and alumni (especially former students and men’s soccer team).”

In the following Q&A interview for the Two Feet newsletter, Fr. Bud talks about his motivation and the priorities arising from his life experiences:

Responding to G

Dewey McConville

ospel mandate
Dewey McConville embraces ecumenical collaboration
By Barb Arland-Fye

As an eighth-grader in the 1960s, Dewey McConville put up signs promoting meetings to discuss integration in St. Louis, Missouri, which like many communities was struggling with racism during the Civil Rights Movement. “I got into peace and justice there,” says Dewey, a longtime member of St. Mary Parish in Centerville and its newly resurrected Social Action Committee.

The late Charles Vatterott, Dewey’s uncle, Catholic business leader and civil rights activist in St. Louis, marched in Selma after “Bloody Sunday” with religious leaders and lay people in 1965. His example, along with the loving guidance of her family and her Catholic education, shaped Dewey’s commitment to foster peace by working for justice.

By Barb Arland-FYe

Posted on May 2026

Saving the lives of newborn babies and contributing to their positive health outcomes motivates and inspires Melody Hobert-Mellecker, a longtime nurse at the University of Iowa. After working for 18 years as a psychiatric nurse and then in administration, Melody needed a change to re-energize her career. She found it 12 years ago in newborn screening.