[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 30, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E222]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   REV. ROBERT F. DRINAN, SCHOLAR, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST, AND FORMER 
                           MEMBER OF CONGRESS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 30, 2007

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a 
great American and a former member of this House. The Rev. Robert 
Drinan, was a Jesuit Catholic priest, lawyer, human rights activist, 
and a former Member of Congress from Massachusetts. He was also a law 
professor at Georgetown University Law Center for the last 26 years of 
his life. Father Drinan, who died Sunday, January 28, 2007, was one of 
the most admired members of this body and was beloved by all who knew 
him. He will be missed immensely. All of us mourn his loss and extend 
our condolences to his family and loved ones.
  Father Robert Frederick Drinan, S.J. was born November 15, 1920 in 
Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. He 
graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1938. He received a B.A. and an 
M.A. from Boston College in 1942 and joined the Jesuit Order the same 
year; he was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1953. He earned his LL.B. 
and LL.M degrees from Georgetown University Law Center in 1950. He 
received his doctorate in theology from Gregorian University in Rome in 
1954. Over the course of his life he would be the recipient of 21 
honorary degrees. He studied in Florence for 2 years before returning 
to Boston, where he was admitted to the bar in 1956.
  Father Drinan was appointed Dean of the Boston College Law School in 
1956 and served until 1970, during which time he also taught family law 
and church-state relations. As dean he called for the desegregation of 
Boston public schools during the 1960s and challenged his students to 
become involved in civil rights issues. During this period, he was also 
a visiting professor at other schools including the University of 
Texas. He also served the public interest by his membership on several 
Massachusetts state commissions created to improve the administration 
of justice.

  In 1970, Father Drinan, who strongly opposed the Vietnam War, was 
elected to Congress defeating Congressman Philip J. Philbin, the Chair 
of the Armed Services Committee in the Democratic primary. Father 
Drinan went on to win re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives 
four times, serving from 1971 until 1981. He was the first Roman 
Catholic priest to serve as a voting member of Congress.
  In the House, Father Drinan served on several committees but is 
perhaps best known for his service on the Judiciary Committee, where he 
chaired the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice. He was the first member 
of Congress to introduce a resolution in Congress calling for the 
impeachment of President Nixon. Father Drinan believed strong and with 
considerable justification that it was illegal for President Nixon to 
widen the Vietnam War by the secret of bombing Cambodia.
  Father Drinan was an early and staunch supporter of a woman's right 
to choose. This stance took considerable political courage for a Roman 
Catholic politician from Boston in the early 1970s. His stand on 
abortion rights drew considerable criticism and significant opposition 
from Church leaders, who were also opposed to the idea of a priest 
holding political office.
  Father Drinan reconciled his political position with official Church 
doctrine by stating that while he was personally opposed to abortion, 
its legality was a separate issue from its morality. This distinction 
did not satisfy his critics, notably Pope John Paul II, who in 1980, 
decreed that all priests everywhere withdraw from electoral politics. 
Though framed as a general order, to many it seemed that Father Drinan 
was the principal target. But true to his ordination vows, Father 
Drinan obeyed and did not seek reelection. He said: ``It is just 
unthinkable, [the idea of renouncing the priesthood to stay in office]. 
I am proud and honored to be a priest and a Jesuit. As a person of 
faith I must believe that there is work for me to do which somehow will 
be more important than the work I am required to leave.'' But he 
continued to be a vocal supporter of a woman's right to choose after 
leaving the Congress, much to the chagrin of the Church, and strongly 
supported President Clinton's veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban 
Act in 1996.

  Father Drinan joined the faculty of the Georgetown University Law 
Center in 1981 and served for the next 26 years. He taught legal ethics 
and international human rights, and traveled to 16 countries, including 
as Chile, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Vietnam on human rights 
missions. He was a regular contributor to law reviews and journals, and 
authored several books, including The Mobilization of Shame: A World 
View of Human Rights, published by Yale University Press in 2001.
  Father Drinan served as a member of the American Bar Association 
House of Delegates until his death and was chair of the ABA Section on 
Individual Rights and Responsibilities. He served on the Board of 
Directors of the International League for Human Rights, the Lawyer's 
Committee for International Human Rights, the Council for a Livable 
World Educational Fund, the International Labor Rights Fund, Americans 
for Democratic Action, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 
Fund.
  In 2004, the American Bar Association called Father Drinan ``the 
stuff of which legends are made'' when awarding him its 2004 ABA Medal, 
an honor shared by such legal luminaries as Thurgood Marshall and 
Sandra Day O'Connor. Just last summer Father Drinan was presented the 
2006 Congressional Distinguished Service Award by now-House Speaker 
Nancy Pelosi, which is given to former Members of the House of 
Representatives who have performed their duties ``with such 
extraordinary distinction and selfless dedication as to merit special 
recognition.''
  Madam Speaker, a great man has finished his course, has run the great 
race, and has gone on to claim his great reward. We are deeply saddened 
by the loss of this tireless champion for human rights and social 
justice. But his good works will be with us for eternity. For that we 
can all be grateful.

                          ____________________