First Things: Robert Drinan, Infanticide, and the “Unthinkable”

(Hat tip: Amy Welborn)

Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., and a former congressional aide to Fr. Robert J. Drinan, S.J., writes at the First Things blog On the Square:

On February 1, I joined perhaps a thousand other mourners in St. Aloysius Church in Washington for the funeral of the Reverend Robert F. Drinan, S.J. Among those eulogizing Fr. Drinan, who represented Massachusetts in Congress from 1971 to 1981, was Sen. Edward Kennedy. He was one of several speakers who mentioned how Congressman Drinan would lovingly and jokingly refer to his aides and volunteers as his “minions.” I smiled—and when Kennedy added that, “decades later, many remain passionately involved in public affairs,” I had to nod in agreement. I should know. I’m one of them.

That may come as a surprise to those more familiar with the work I do now, as vice president for policy of the Family Research Council in Washington. Fr. Drinan was known as one of the most liberal Democrats in Congress during his service there. The Family Research Council, on the other hand, is the most prominent organization of social conservatives in Washington. Needless to say, my political, social, and theological views have evolved (I would say matured) a good deal since 1981.

***
Then, in May 1980, when I had been working in his office for only four months, we learned the shocking news that Pope John Paul II had ordered Fr. Drinan to step down from office. (I have sometimes seen it erroneously reported that Drinan resigned. In fact, he immediately abandoned his bid for reelection but was permitted to complete his term, which ran until January 1981). I’ve sometimes joked that I may be the only American Baptist ever to lose his job because of an order from the pope.

One thing that Congressman Drinan said during that period has always stayed with me. In the immediate aftermath of the pope’s order, there were several meetings of Drinan supporters to discuss what to do next. I should note that many of his closest political supporters were not Catholic, despite Massachusetts’ large Catholic population. Instead, they were Jewish, Protestant like me, or essentially secular. One of those supporters asked the congressman the question that may have been on the minds of many of them—“Why not just ignore the pope?”

I have never forgotten Drinan’s simple, four-word answer: “That would be unthinkable.”

***
A quarter of a century after my relationship with Robert Drinan ended, those two single words I heard him speak are what I remember most. One was his acknowledgment that abortion is “infanticide.” The second was his declaration that with regard to the end of his congressional career, defying the pope would be “unthinkable.” How tragic it is that defying the pope’s teaching on such “infanticide” was not equally “unthinkable.”

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Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Demythologizing Father Drinan

Fr. Drinan's Legacy ...

Fr. Robert J. Drinan, S.J. - Rest in Peace