By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - A priest who saved one of Covington's monumental churches, revitalized the Mutter Gottes neighborhood and began the city's foundational services for the homeless has died.

The Rev. William Henry Mertes - described by friends as a tireless advocate for the poor, disadvantaged and outcast - died Tuesday, nine days after his 82nd birthday. "I don't know how you can put in words what this man meant to Covington," said Molly Navin, a resident of Mutter Gottes and director of the Parish Kitchen, a soup kitchen. "Words seem so inadequate. He was so extraordinary in so many ways."

Navin said Mertes was a visionary who saved Mother of God Catholic Church on West Sixth Street from demolition. He pioneered the revitalization of Covington's Mutter Gottes and Montgomery neighborhoods, and founded the Parish Kitchen and Welcome House homeless shelter.

When Mertes became pastor of Mother of God in 1973, he turned around the almost-defunct church. A year later he pooled his money with 11 others to buy nine houses on Covington Avenue that the city had condemned.

Mertes lived in one of those homes until his death, which was of natural causes.

The priest made headlines in 1980 when his car was firebombed along with his niece's home. Apparently, friends said at the time, the hard-driving Mertes made enemies with his downtown rehab movement.

"He stopped at nothing to get things done," Navin said. "He never felt like he had ownership of the issues he tackled. It was his ideas and he got them off the ground, but unlike many people, he was able to let go, turn the programs over to other people."

Mertes was a Chicago native who studied music as an undergraduate student at Northwestern University. Friends say Mertes, known for his baritone voice, loved music and always had season tickets to the Cincinnati Symphony.

Mertes flew missions over Germany during World War II as a pilot before studying philosophy at St. Mary College in St. Mary, Ky., and theology at Gregorian University in Rome.

After being ordained at 38, he was assigned to the Covington Diocese when the diocese included the Lexington area. He taught at Lexington Catholic High School, and then became an assistant at Holy Cross Church in Latonia. He joined the faculty of Holy Cross High School in 1968.

Mertes retired as a priest in 1986, but stayed active in Catholic Social Services and other groups.

He is survived by two sisters, Elaine Trimble of Apopka, Fla., and Antoinette Arens of Dayton, Texas.

Visitation will be at Mother of God Church in Covington from 4 to 8 p.m. today, and from 10:45 to 11:45 a.m. Saturday.

Mass of Christian burial will be at noon Saturday at the church.

Memorials can be made to Catholic Social Services, 3629 Church St., Covington, KY 41015; or Priests Retirement Fund, P.O. Box 18548, Erlanger, KY 41018.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com