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“Give Us What We Want, or We Kill the Mothers and Babies!” (Norman Costa)

Drinan_capitol

"Give Us What We Want, or We Kill the Mothers and Babies!"

I was reading an article on Robert F. Drinan, S.J., a Jesuit priest who served in the U.S. Congress for 10 years, ending in 1980. He was the first Catholic clergy to serve in Congress. His departure came at the order of Pope John Paul II, the former Cardinal of Poland, Karol Wojtyla, the only Polish Cardinal to be elected pope.

The article described a number of reasons for forbiding Drinan from serving. Drinan was considered a liberal. The principal reason appears to be abortion rights. You can read the article at America Magazine: "Career Interrupted – Robert F. Drinan's unscheduled reitrement," by Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., March 7, 2011 issue.

I remember when Father Drinan left the life of politics. I remember being disappointed and confused as to the reason.  All that I knew, at that time, was that Pope John Paul II required him to leave, and there was little in the way of news reporting that explained why.

There was little doubt that Fr. Drinan was a strong moral force in Congress; and, it was at a time when it was sorely needed. Also, I think that had he stayed, and made it possible for other priests to serve, we might not have witnessed the discrimination against a Catholic priest being appointed the official Chaplain of the US Congress.

This matter of clergy serving in politics, particularly Catholic clergy, is a very tough one to sort through. Politics is, by definition, a matter of compromise and the art of the possible. There are many ordained, and self-ordained, clerics in elected office in the U.S. Some are even sincerely religious. Why should there not be Catholic clergy in elected office?

Organized, tax-exempt, religious institutions should not be active wavers of political banners. Yet the interests of Catholic constituents should have a voice in Congress. I would rather have a public figure, like Fr. Drinan, with some amount of transparency representing Catholic interests, than the secret backroom dealings of corrupt Cardinals and Bishops.

John Paul II was a man of enormous faith, and great personal and moral courage. Yet, his understanding of serious human issues, like clergy sex abuse of minors, left a great deal to be desired.

We now have a core in Congress that can best be described as insensitive and intolerant. An example of this is the morphing of the pro-life campaign into hostage taking of almost all medical, educational, social, and economic support for poor and low income mothers and their children. Let us not forget the very programs that reduce the numbers of unwanted pregnancies and the need for abortions.

"You got the rest of the legistlative session to give us what we want! If we do not get it, then we will start killing the mothers and babies, one every minute! Their deaths will be on your hands!"

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5 responses to ““Give Us What We Want, or We Kill the Mothers and Babies!” (Norman Costa)”

  1. Elatia Harris

    Thank you, Norman. Fr. Drinan understood that good government did not have to involve the forcing of his personal religious convictions, or the dictates of his church, onto a diverse public. Presumably, Catholics who believe as he did will not abort pregnancies — never mind that the law of the land (still) allows them to. And non-Catholics who see abortion as a moral and necessary option will be spared by the law (this year, anyway) from pursuing an illegal and unsafe one. He may have thought that legal abortion was a more moral choice than illegal abortion, and realized that a large number of women with undesired pregnancies do not bring their pregnancies to term, but abort one way or another, even when the medical risk to themselves is greater than the risk of going through with the pregnancy. His conduct demonstrated that you could be a priest with integrity, perfectly orthodox in your faith, and yet serve a public with widely divergent views on what is ethical.
    To bundle reproductive choice with essential health services is obscene. It’s a war waged mainly by rich old men on young women who live in or near poverty. And actually, if there’s one class of person that does the world the very least good, it’s rich old men.

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  2. Ruchira

    Norman, why are you surprised with Fr. Drinan’s fate? The Vatican doesn’t pretend to be liberal or give its ordained members the freedom from the Vow of Obedience. The pope’s displeasure with a Jesuit priest supporting legislation in the US congress that goes against the Church’s own political stance (and indeed, the Vatican is political) is in my opinion, entirely to be expected. In John Paul II’s mind, he was not so much interfering with the US government as Fr. Drinan was with the Vatican. It is all a matter of which loyalty comes first. As I see the hierarchy of power here as an outsider, for an ordained priest, the church comes first. Apparently, the priest himself agreed. Otherwise, Drinan would have resigned from his priesthood and not his congressional seat. But of course, if Fr. Drinan would have fought tooth and nail for Catholic values while in congress, against abortion rights eg., he may not have been asked to withdraw from politics.
    I remember well Bob “B-52” Dornan’s fiery rhetoric against abortion and all humanitarian measures that Fr. Drinan may have wished to uphold. Dornan was also an enthusiastic warmonger who hated those members of the Latin American Catholic clergy who became activists against oppressive authoritarian regimes that were supported the the Reagan administration. It appears from the article you have linked to, that John Paul didn’t like them much very much either. The liberal Catholic priest Drinan being booted out by the Vatican partly due to the smear campaign by the ultra-conservative lay Catholic Dornan may be ironic but it is not surprising at all.
    I agree that a Catholic priest should not be barred from serving the public in politics and they ought to be allowed to follow their conscience and not have to take orders from the pope. But it is easier said than done, given the centralized authority located in the Vatican. Ordained ministers from other denominations serve all the time. But I think that the relationship of non-Catholic ministers with their church is a little less formal than that of a Jesuit priest’s to Rome.

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  3. Norman Costa

    Ruchira,
    At the time of Drinan’s retreat from politics, more than thirty years ago, I understood the prohibition as a general principle. Priests should stay out of politics and tend to their flock. this would apply to Central America and the U.S. I lived in New York, so I was not very familiar with Drinan who served Massachusetts. Perhaps if I did a little more research, I would have understood more at that time.
    Still, the issue is the same. It is preferable to let mothers and babies suffer, and allow more unwanted pregnancies – or use a threat to do so – in order to defeat pro-choice supporters. What is perceived to be a crime against a fetus will out weight crimes against mothers, babies, and girls who will get pregnant. The platform is not pro-life, it is anti woman.

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  4. Mellors

    To Ruchira,
    Please note that the authoritarian regimes supported by those “members of the Latin American Catholic clergy who became activists against oppressive authoritarian regimes that were supported the the Reagan administration” are now allied with the authoritarian regimes headed by Ghaddafi and Hamas.
    To Norman Costa,
    Did the article not explain, or did you not notice, that the Pope’s order was against all members of the clergy, and was not directed personally at that spiteful self-righteous little twerp Drinan alone, alas?

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  5. Norman Costa

    @ Mellors:
    What is your understanding of what the Pope’s order was? What is your understanding of the reason for the order?

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