Posted on 01/28/2007 6:46:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Ok, I officially feel like a fool.
Why? I was just making a bad joke.
He LOOKS like he belongs piloting a boat on the river Styx, no?
Expressing "regret and pain," Father Drinan left the House in 1981 after the Vatican ruled that no priest could hold a legislative position.
Translation: like Fr Coughlin he was silenced by the hierarchy.
Priests should stick to religion.
RIP and GR.
How is it that Sean Cardinal O'Malley receives no dishonorable mention in the Neuhaus article, having under his silent ecclesiastical jurisdiction the pluperfect example of Catholic political life in the USA,
one Edward Moore (not after Thomas More) Kennedy,
who, at his mother's funeral, of course piously stretched out his hand to receive Holy Communion from the Eminent Bernard Law . . . which I supposed was OK as his previous marriage of close to 30 years had been duly annulled by those sworn never to put asunder what God had joined together.
Then there's always John Forbes Kerry (who served in Viet Nam).
Of course, right up the street from Boston, in the Diocese of Worcester, we have a bishop who, when he was still just a priest and moral theology advisor for another diocese, taught that euthanasia was OK, and that didn't seem to get in the way of his promotion to the episcopacy, nor have I ever seen any public repudiation by said bishop of his previous erroneous teachings.
A talented and intellectualy gifted man, Drinan was a major force for opening the floodgates of abortion in this country, and as of just a few years ago, when I asked him about his pro-abortion stance, he has never repented it.
The Vatican did right in barring him from serving in Congress, but for the sake of his eternal destiny, they should have excommunicated him. It might have brought home to him what a desperate situation his soul was in.
I wouldn't have wished for him anything different than what I desire for myself: I chance to deeply repent my sins before I die.
By the way, if you haven't done it already, we need to write to Pope Benedict and ask him NOT to make Abp Wuerl a Cardinal, due to his deereliction of duty in failing to enforce Canon 915. You can read the details HERE on the relevant Free Republic thread.
Yes. I had forgotten that Fr. Drinan presided over Nancy Pelosi's Coronation Mass.
It's hard not to see it as divine retribution, although one can never be sure.
Aristotle argued, in the Poetics, that no one can foresee what fate will bring, but that in a typical Greek tragedy the working out of fate is often revealed in retrospect.
Prayers for his soul, but I'm not sorry that he has left the political scene where he played such a major role in furthering the Culture of Death and undermining the teachings of the Church to which he belonged.
I didn't realise he was in Congress for TEN YEARS before being asked by the Vatican to step down.
If only he had used his power for good...
Can you imagine what could have been accomplished if he were a FAITHFUL Catholic priest in that position?
He would never have been elected. That's when the old tired Separation of Church and State would rear it's head. If he was conservative an issue would have definitely been made of this.
I had little time for Drinan myself. But I think this "glad he's dead" and "he's in hell" talk of some posters here is beyond-the-pale, does not reflect well on Freerepublic, and should be reserved for such as murderers and rapists. Drinan’s abortion "straddle" was not, I think disingenuous like that of some politicians. I saw Drinan speak to a July 4th crowd in Harvard, Mass. in the mid-1970s. He did not have to bring up the topic of abortion – indeed, it seemed out of place to the occasion, and shocked the sentiment of the crowd, which probably had more Unitarians than Catholics – but he did indeed harangue us on the sanctity of life and the tragedy of abortion.
I could smell the fire burning...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.