The Rev. Drinan: Better Than His Betters

A distinguished former public servant and a dedicated servant to his faith left us this week.

The Rev. Robert Drinan, who served in Congress from Massachusetts for 10 years, died at 86 after a brief illness.

Father Drinan was never defeated at the polls. He left his position after the Vatican decreed that he could not perform both duties. He said it was "unthinkable" to leave the priesthood and resigned immediately "with pain and regret."

In Congress, Drinan was an unabashed liberal serving his Boston constituents. He was never shrill or confrontational. But his liberalism during the Nixon years earned him a spot on the infamous enemies list, and the right wing called him "the mad monk."

After leaving Congress, Drinan taught at Georgetown University and lived at the Jesuit Center on campus.

As I heard words of praise for Drinan, I thought of his forced departure from the House and how the Vatican handled the scandal of pedophilic priests who preyed on altar boys for years.

Priests in the United States were routinely moved to other parishes when their homosexual practices were discovered. The hierarchy in some dioceses was guilty of felonies in covering up the crimes.

It took the church an extended time before it acted. In many cases, settlements of lawsuits against priests required millions of dollars. A few priests were jailed.

Of course, the psychological scars on many of the victims will never be removed.

Drinan, on the other hand, was a dedicated priest without a hint of scandal in his career in Congress or as a priest and teacher. Yet, he was forced to give up his political career by order of the Holy See and Pope John Paul II.

As a Catholic myself, I think his forced resignation was a mistake. It was disgraceful when compared with the church's handling of the outrageous behavior of many priests and bishops.