Monday, January 29, 2007

Remembering Robert Drinan

Robert F. Drinan, Catholic priest, former Member of Congress, and law professor at Georgetown, who died Sunday at the age of 86, is being remembered for his anti-war and human rights activism.

The Carnegie Council hosted a book talk by Drinan on his book The Mobilization of Shame: A World View of Human Rights, in November 2002. He was introduced by Joanne Myers this way:
Father Drinan is an ordained Jesuit priest. He is probably best known to many of you for the prominent role he has played in the human rights movement. He has been President of Americans for Democratic Action, a member of the National Governing Board of Common Cause and the Board of Directors of People for the American Way, the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, a member of the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry, and a founding member of the Lawyers’ Alliance for Nuclear Arms Control. In addition, he has been a member of the Board of the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Even though this is just a sampling of his c.v., you must agree it reads like a Who’s Who of human rights organizations.

And although his voice is most often heard as a defender of human rights, others may remember him as one of the most outspoken critics of the Vietnam War when he was elected to Congress from Massachusetts, serving from 1971 to 1981.

Drinan concluded his own remarks with this statement:
It was said by Solon, the ancient Athenian jurist, 2,000 years before Christ: “Justice will not come until those who are not hurt feel just as indignant as those who are hurt.”
For the rest of his remarks, click here. For a bio of Drinan, click here. For a bibliography of his works, click here.