Posted on 01/28/2007 6:46:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - The Rev. Robert Drinan, a Jesuit who — over the objections of his superiors — was the only Roman Catholic priest elected as a voting member of Congress, died Sunday.
Drinan, 86, had suffered from pneumonia and congestive heart failure during the previous 10 days, according to a statement by Georgetown University which said he died at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington.
"His death was peaceful, and he was surrounded by his family," said the Rev. John Langan, rector of the Georgetown University Jesuit Community where Drinan lived.
An internationally known human-rights advocate, Drinan was elected on an anti-war platform and represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House for 10 years during the turbulent 1970s.
He stepped down only after a worldwide directive from Pope John Paul II barring priests from holding public office.
During his Congressional tenure, Drinan continued to dress in the robes of his clerical order and lived in a simple room in the Jesuit community at Georgetown.
But he wore his liberal views more prominently. He opposed the draft, worked to abolish mandatory retirement and raised eyebrows with his more moderate views on abortion and birth control.
"Father Drinan's commitment to human rights and justice will have a lasting legacy here at Georgetown University and across the globe," said Georgetown President John J. Degioia.
"Few have accomplished as much as Father Drinan and fewer still have done so much to make the world a better place," said Alex Aleinikoff, dean of the George University Law Center.
Drinan, dean of the Boston College Law School from 1956 to 1970, called for the desegregation of Boston public schools during the 1960s and challenged Boston College students to become involved in civil rights issues.
"He'll be remembered in the country for his advocacy for the poor and underprivileged," said John Garvey, the Boston law school's current dean.
Drinan was elected in 1970, after he beat longtime Democratic Rep. Philip J. Philbin in a primary — and again in the November election, when Philbin was a write-in candidate. The only other priest to serve in Congress was a nonvoting delegate from Michigan in 1823.
Although a poll at the time showed that 30 percent of the voters in his district thought it was improper for a priest to run for office, Drinan considered politics a natural extension of his work in public affairs and human rights.
His run for office came a year after he returned from a trip to Vietnam, where he said he discovered that the number of political prisoners being held in South Vietnam was rapidly increasing, contrary to State Department reports. In a book the next year, he urged the Catholic Church to condemn the war as "morally objectionable."
He became the first member of Congress to call for the impeachment of Richard Nixon — although the call wasn't related to the Watergate scandal, but rather what Drinan viewed as the administration's undeclared war against Cambodia.
"Can we be silent about this flagrant violation of the Constitution?" Drinan demanded angrily back then. "Can we impeach a president for concealing a burglary but not for concealing a massive bombing?"
Decades later, at the invitation of Congress, he testified against the impeachment of another president: Bill Clinton. Drinan said Clinton's misdeeds were not in the same league as Nixon's, and that impeachment should be for an official act, not a private one.
After leaving office in 1980 — "with regret and pain" — Drinan continued to be active in political causes. He served as president of the Americans for Democratic Action, crisscrossing the country giving speeches on hunger, civil liberties, and the perils of the arms race.
Drinan received more than 20 honorary degrees, and traveled extensively throughout the world in both official congressional delegations and privately funded trips. He wrote a number of books.
Former Massachusetts Rep. Father Robert Drinan holds up a copy of the 1974 impeachment report of President Nixon while testifying on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing in this Dec. 8, 1998 file photo. Drinan, a Jesuit who - over the objections of his superiors - became the first Roman Catholic priest to serve as a voting member of Congress, died Sunday. . (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1775268/posts
I'll say it again:
I have absolutely NO sympathy for Drinan.
I'm glad he's dead.
He was an enemy of this country.
He will not be missed.
He was another commie who posed as a Catholic.
No, he won't. He'll be remembered among practicing Catholics for teaching a whole mob of Democrat politicians that baby-killing is perfectly OK with God.
It would be interesting to see how Drinan is explaing to the Lord Jesus how he strongly supported Bill Clinton's veto of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act in 1996, along with his consistent support for so-called 'abortion rights'.
A little less political grandstanding, and a little more evangelizing for lost souls would have been a more productive use of Drinan's time on this Earth.
Thanks! and Dang , I used search too, looks like titles were not close tho the author is same.. I hate when newssites rename stories.
I agree, his actions over the years make one wonder about some Massachusetts voters.
"He was an enemy of this country."
Worse. He was an enemy of the Church.
Barring Priests from being involved in politics, period. John McLaughlin chose politics and ended up seeking laicization. Drinan probably felt he could do more damage to the Church by remaining a Priest than in becoming just another leftist puke on Capitol Hill. Incidentally, Drinan was replaced in Congress by one Barney Frank.
I am conflicted here. My dislike of this person is struggling mightily with my desire for propriety in observing courtesy for his family in his passing.
I guess I will extend his family the courtesy of not speaking ill of him at this time.
He probably qualifies as "Worst Jesuit Ever," and there has been a lot of competition over the past 40 years.
A major improvement.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic Ping List:
Please ping me to all note-worthy threads on Pro-Life or Catholic threads.
Sorry, I don't feel bad. He set a terrible precedent - setting the Democrat Party over the teachings of the Church - and led many people astray. I hope he's got a good explanation right about now.
God is merciful, but He is also just. I'd say Drinan is in a lot of trouble right now.
If he was pro abortion he should have been thrown out of the priesthood by the Holy Father.
And the rich man said, Send Lazarus to my brothers that they do not end up here in torment. But even shouls a man be sent from the grave to them they will reject the truth. Father Drinan lack spiritual discernment; since there was 'no king' in his heart, he did what was right in his own eyes and furthered the slaughter of alive unborn children. Yes, he's in a heap of trouble.
called for the desegregation of Boston public schools during the 1960s. . .
he urged the Catholic Church to condemn the war as "morally objectionable."
what Drinan viewed as the administration's undeclared war against Cambodia. . .
he testified against the impeachment of another president: Bill Clinton . . .
He served as president of the Americans for Democratic Action, crisscrossing the country giving speeches on hunger, civil liberties, and the perils of the arms race.
In other words, he dressed up cranky, pro-Soviet positions as Catholic teaching when they weren't, while publicly dissenting from the actual teaching of the Church. And when finally told to shut up by the Pope, he gave an object lesson, not of respect and obedience, but ungracious, half-hearted compliance.
All in all, like many old, and now dying members of his once-heroic order, he lined up consistently with the enemies of God and man. We pray that he made a sincere, death-bed confession we never heard about, or that all his life he had suffered from some irremediable condition that made him unaware of what he was doing. Otherwise, this priest is in hell.
Perhaps we could just pray 'May God have mercy on his soul'.
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