Posted on 01/28/2007 6:24:15 PM PST by Jim Noble
The Rev. Robert Drinan, a Massachusetts Jesuit who -- over the objections of his superiors -- became the first Roman Catholic priest to serve 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.
"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 represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House for 10 years during the turbulent 1970s, and he stepped down only after a worldwide directive from Pope John Paul II barring priests from holding public office.
He 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. And in a book the next year, he urged the Catholic Church to condemn the war as "morally objectionable."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
RIP. He chose the wrong party.
I guess Deval won't be able to appoint him to a post in his administration.
Mass. voters never cease to astound me.
I wouldn't wish damnation on anyone.
Drinan did much to further the cause of abortion. He also counseled politicians like Mario Cuomo and taught them that it was OK to be Catholic and support abortion. "I am personally opposed to abortion, BUT . . . ."
As far as I could see, he was as unrepentent as ever in his recent pronouncements. I hope he had some sort of deathbed conversion experience. Let God sort it out.
He fries in the 7th bolga of hell, false councilors.
I'll bet that that was one interesting particular judgment.
Just days ago, Drinan managed to say the mass celebrating Nancy Pelosi's ascension into the House speakership. Evidently that was the last straw.
Our gain. Someone else's loss.
I saw Jerry Falwell cut him to pieces on some news show many years ago. All Drinan could do was huff and puff.
Anyone know of any actual conservative GOP priests?
May God have mercy on his soul. He may be introduced to the souls of all those babies whose mothers aborted them because Catholic lawmakers were convinced by Drinan that the "personally opposed, but" stance was acceptable to the Church. These lawmakers are very public about their positions, and Catholics who might have a tenous link to the Church, are confused and are led to believe that abortion must not be that bad, because it's legal and 'Catholic' politicians support it.
I don't know how a minister , priest or rabbi could perform his ministerial duties and be a poltician simultaneously.
Well, all his career, he made what I consider to be wrong assessments and votes; but the only thing that matters now is this: was he born-again?
I have absolutely NO sympathy for Drinan.
I'm glad he's dead.
Ping!
What matters to me is his impact on our public life, which was negative.
Oh, sure, there are plenty of good priests. They just don't stick out the way some of the dissenters do.
Priests aren't supposted to get heavily involved in politics. Drinan was forced to quit as a congressman, but he continued to dissent from the sidelines.
The Vatican clamped down on political involvement of priests and forced several to leave political office because of the insanity of "liberation theology" in South America (now pretty well discredited) and the bad example of that priest in Haiti whose coup against Baby Doc Duvalier was idiotically supported by clinton and carter.
HaHa, I believe you are correct.
Eternal rest.
I would take this as not being a good sign from Heaven for Pelosi.
im an ex GOP catholic priest
ex-GOP or ex-Catholic priest?
"Pleased to meet you... hope you guess my name..."
Father Pavone (Priests for Life). I'm not absolutely sure - well, yeah - I would bet he votes Republican. On the other hand, I told him that I really think he sounds like a Baptist preacher.
He spoke at the Texas Rally for Life in Austin, Saturday. Once again, I am humbled by the power and logic of the man.
RIP. I hope he repented of some of his positions at the end... :-|
May God have mercy on him. He did a great deal of harm in his life, but so do we all.
ex Catholic Priest Reagon Democrat turned to GOP in 1992 left active ministry 93
In haste induced by the imminence of death or in great futility for eternity. Lucifer, no doubt, has special fun with the souls of those priests who are sent to hell.
For him, not really..he was as left wing as they come
Most of the Catholics in Congress are Democrats. Democrat machines in the large cities have been dependent upon Catholics since the 1820s.
He's a great priest.
question, do you have any news reports etc that document that he counsled Cuomo? I would love to know if there is a direct connection. In terms of pro-abortion figures, there is indeed Kennedy and Kerry, Nancy Pelosi etc, but Cuomo seemed to have taken on a life of his own with the Notre Dame speech.
I don't know for sure whether Drinan ever directly counseled Mario Cuomo, although I imagine they traveled in similar circles. Mario Cuomo gave his famous speech at Notre Dame, so he was probably also influenced by the dissent that centered there, with Fr. Hesburgh, the leader of the Land o' Lakes movement that undermined and perhaps destroyed the Catholic colleges, and Fr. Richard McBrien, the dissenting heretic who was chairman of the Theology Department and a chief corrupter of the American Theological Association.
But Drinan was influential because he was one of the earliest to take this kind of position--not of outright dissent, but of speaking out of both sides of his mouth, staying in the Church while constantly undermining the teachings of the Church, most notably on contraception and abortion.
Drinan also demonstrated that it was possible to be a heretic but use doublespeak, and that the Church seemed reluctant to discipline such behavior.
Here's an article with some of the historical background:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0020.html
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