Robert Drinan

Robert Drinan

Robert Frederick Drinan (born November 15, 1920 in Boston , Massachusetts , † January 28, 2007 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician , Roman Catholic religious priest and law professor.

Life

Drinan grew up in Boston. In 1942 he completed his Masters at Boston College and joined the Jesuits at. In 1950 he completed his Master of Laws at Georgetown University. In 1954 he received his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University . In 1955 he became a professor of family law at the Law School of Boston College. In 1956 he was elected dean there and remained so until 1969. From 1969 to 1970 he was chancellor at Boston College.

In 1970 Drinan finished his activity at Boston College Law School and won a seat in Massachusetts for the Democratic Party , as part of a platform against the Vietnam War , in the election to the United States Congress. Winning the election against an experienced opponent was a big surprise at the time.

He was re-elected four times and was a Member of Parliament until 1980. Besides Robert John Cornell, it was one of the only two Roman Catholic priests in Congress. In July 1973, he was the first MP in Congress to move a resolution for impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon . He was also one of the few politicians who spoke out against the military involvement in the Mayaguez incident in 1975 . Drinan criticized abortions , but advocated the legal right to abortions both during his parliamentary work and afterwards ( pro-choice ), which is why religious conservatives spoke out in favor of preventing his parliamentary activities. In 1980 Pope John Paul II issued a papal decree calling for priests to renounce political office, whereupon Drinan expressed dissatisfaction, but gave in and did not stand for re-election.

From 1981 to 2007 he was professor of law at the Law School of Georgetown University . Main topics Legal Ethics (Legal ethics) and international human rights, and founded the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

Memberships

Drinan was a member of the American Bar Association and served as a board member in the human rights organizations Human Rights First and International League for Human Rights . As a board member, he also supported the democracy-promoting organization Americans for Democratic Action and the International Labor Rights Forum . In 1966 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Mark Feeney : Rev. Drinan, first priest elected as voting member of Congress, dies . In: The Boston Globe . January 28, 2007.
2. ↑ Announcement on the death of Robert Drinan ( memento of the original from October 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from the United States House of Representatives , January 2007 
3. ^ Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States . Harper Perennial, New York 2005, ISBN 0-06-083865-5 , p. 553
4. ↑ Georgetown University's campus newspaper The Hoya  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 27, 2006  

Web links

• Robert Drinan in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Announcement of the death of Robert Drinan of the United States House of Representatives , January 2007