From the Sidelines to the Front Lines - Mathew Ahmann Leads American Catholics into the Civil Rights Movement

Abstract

THE FIFTY YEAR-OLD PHOTO shows twelve men dark suits standing around President John F. Kennedy. The occasion is the White House reception following the 1963 March on Washington. The camera captures Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and then-Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson. Also pictured are the African American labor leader, A. Philip Randolph; Whitney Young, head of the National Urban League; United Auto Workers president, Walter Reuther; and future Congressman John Lewis. But who is the tall, skinny white fellow wearing a bow tie? Few people could identify the mystery man as Mathew Ahmann, executive director of the National Conference for Interracial Justice (NCCIJ).It is said that every person is entitled to fifteen minutes of fame. Ahmann's moment the media spotlight came on August 28,1963, when he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, one of nine speakers delivering brief speeches prior to King's unforgettable Have a Dream oration. This was the public highlight of a career spent mostly the background. Yet, during the 1960s, Ahmann guided the civil rights efforts of the United States' largest religious body and, more than any other individual, brought Roman Catholics from the sidelines to the front lines of the struggle for racial equality.Early YearsMathew Hall Ahmann was born on September 10,1931, to a middle class family St. Cloud, Minnesota. His father, Norbert T. Ahmann, was a dentist and his mother, Clotilde Hall, worked as a nurse before she married. Mathew was educated at St. John's Prep nearby Collegeville where he played drums the band and rose to Eagle the Boy Scouts. The Ahmanns were deeply religious, attending retreats and other religious rites at Saint Johns Abbey Collegeville. According to his wife, Mathew always was compassionate about people who were marginalized.1 One revealing event his youth occurred at a gathering of young people that included Janet, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. During the evening some children began singing an all too ubiquitous anti-Semitic song, oblivious to its possible effect on her. Matt stopped it short no uncertain terms.Mathew enrolled at St. Johns University, his fathers alma mater, 1949. There he was influenced by Emerson Hynes, a popular young sociology professor. also joined the Young Christian Students (YCS), an association of high school and college students who applied the observe, judge, act inquiry method to social issues.2 His friend and YCS associate, Vaile Scott, described Mathew as a serious student: He wasn't a party boy.3 In 1952 Ahmann enrolled the graduate sociology program at the University of Chicago. His brother David recalled: Matt announced he was going on to the University of Chicago the family promptly held a prayer meeting so that Matt wouldn't lose his faith. In fact, he found his faith.4 When not on campus he helped out at the YCS national headquarters. There he met Margaret Cunningham, a Wilmette resident and graduate of the College of St. Teresa Winona, Minnesota, who worked full-time for the Young Christian Students. Much later Matt told his granddaughter, in Chicago I met some of my closest friends, and my wife Margaret.... These were people with whom I shared deep religious interests social justice. Together we worked to improve race relations.5 Matt and Margaret married September of 1954.Chicago during the 1940s and 1950s was the center for Catholic Action, the name given to lay organizations employing the Church's teachings to improve the lives of families, students, workers, the poor, and racial minorities. A trio of dynamic young priests, Daniel Cantwell, William Quinn, and John Egan, guided these programs. Cardinal Samuel Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago, released these men from regular parish duties to work full-time the various Action ministries.6Ahmann withdrew from the University of Chicago without completing his Master's thesis and accepted a social work position with the Cook County Department of Public Aid. …