Pelosi: Father Drinan a ‘Relentless and Modest Champion’
DRINAN
New Bedford Standard-Times
Valerie Sullivan
Boston University Washington News Service
1 February 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 —Hundreds of friends—including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), faculty and students of Georgetown University Law Center and about 40 Catholic priests—celebrated the many hats worn by the Rev. Robert Drinan at a funeral mass for him Thursday.
Father Drinan preached “sometimes from the pulpit, sometimes from the House floor, sometimes from Georgetown, but always through example,” Speaker Pelosi said in her eulogy.
Father Drinan, who died Sunday at the age of 86, was the first Roman Catholic priest to serve as a voting member of Congress. Elected in 1970 from Massachusetts, he was reelected four times before stepping down after the Pope barred priests from holding legislative positions.
He was praised for his unceasing energy—right through the last year of his life as a professor at Georgetown Law, where he had taught since leaving Congress. His life was characterized by “the work of justice, not the… pursuit of a career,” the Rev. John Langan said.
Because of a congressional event following the funeral, eulogists were asked to “observe the House rule of brevity rather than the more generous rules in the other chamber.” The joke drew laughs from the crowd, which included Massachusetts House members Barney Frank, Edward J. Markey, James P. McGovern, and Stephen F. Lynch.
Father Langan again elicited laughs from the crowd when he noted that Father Drinan is in a place now where justice can be achieved “without lawyers” and the leaders are “beyond impeachment”—the latter a reference to Father Drinan’s role in President Nixon’s looming impeachment and his opposition years later to President Clinton’s impeachment.
Speaker Pelosi emphasized Father Drinan’s compassion, especially for children, calling him “one of our greatest champions of human rights.., a relentless and modest champion… eager to help, slow to claim credit.”
She recalled Father Drinan’s optimism for the future of the United States, quoting a speech he gave at her alma mater, Trinity University in Washington, the day before she was sworn in as speaker: “God has great hope for what this nation will do.”
Sen. Kennedy noted Father Drinan’s inspirational effect on young people during his time in Congress, including the young John Kerry. Of Father Drinan’s 10 years in Congress, Sen. Kennedy said, “He was like a meteor across the sky.”
Mentioning Father Drinan’s well-known opposition to the Vietnam War, Sen. Kennedy said, “We miss him more than ever in the halls of Congress today when that cruel history is repeating itself…. He held up America to our consciences both in and out of Congress.”
“To look back over the sweep of his incredible life is to see the vivid truth of what lone individuals… can do when they set their minds to change,” Sen. Kennedy said.
Sen. Kennedy also touched on Father Drinan’s role as a teacher not only to Georgetown law students but to everyone with whom he came in contact. “Of all the hats he wore, none fit him better than that of teacher, and we’ll never forget all that he… taught us,” Sen. Kennedy said.
Before serving in Congress Father Drinan was dean of the Boston College Law School.
Georgetown University President John DeGioia recalled Father Drinan’s human rights missions—how he told “the stories of those whose voices those in power could not or would not hear,” and how he was a “champion for those who could not fight.” .
The funeral mass was held at St. Aloysius Church, nine blocks north of the Capitol, with Georgetown Law students as the pallbearers. A second funeral mass will be held Saturday at St. Ignatius Church in Chestnut Hill, Mass., followed by a burial at Campion Center, Weston, Mass.
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