Father Drinan, Model Of Moral Tenacity

[shawmut]

By Colman McCarthy
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, January 30, 2007; Page C01

If you've ever wondered whether God laughs, think back to 1980, when the Rev. Robert Drinan was ordered by Pope John Paul II to get out of politics and leave Congress. The Jesuit priest, who died on Sunday, was finishing his fifth term representing a suburban Boston district that included Cambridge and Brookline. The pope had been hearing from rankled conservative American Catholics--the Pat Buchanan, William F. Buckley Jr., William Bennett wing of the church -- that Father Drinan, a purebred Democrat, was a dangerous liberal. His voting record on abortion was seen as too pro-choice.

Father Drinan's presence in the House of Representatives had been sanctioned by the previous pope, Paul VI, as well as by the U.S. episcopate, the cardinal of Boston, his own Jesuit superiors and emphatically by the voters in his district.

No matter.

John Paul, knowing that Jesuits take a vow of loyalty to popes, had his way. And who replaced the dangerously liberal Father Drinan? The more dangerously liberal Barney Frank--as ardent an advocate for abortion rights and as he was for gay rights. If there is a God, the Frank-for-Drinan trade surely had Him laughing at the Vatican's expense.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/29/AR2007012902015.html

[Gormy Cuss]

1. I liked the Frank for Drinan irony even back then.

At least it wasn't one of the Vatican's own pushing that ultra liberal agenda. Father Drinan was a decent politician and it was a shame that he was recalled by Rome.

[Daveparts]

2. Check out

Father JohnDear.org He has been arrested 87 times for civil disobedience
a protoge of the Barrigan brothers