NCSJ - 01.29.2007

NCSJ Mourns Passing of Rev. Drinan

Jesuit, Soviet Jewry Activist Dies at 86

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- NCSJ mourns the passing of Rev. Robert F. Drinan, S.J., who died Sunday. 

Father Drinan, a leading human rights activist, was the first Catholic priest elected, in 1970, as a voting member of the U.S. Congress, where he was a strong voice for the Soviet Jewry movement.  He was a co-founder of the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry, and a leader in the effort to free refuseniks from Soviet oppression.

NCSJ Executive Director Mark B. Levin recalled fondly the many opportunities that he had to work with Father Drinan on the overall human rights situation in the former Soviet Union, as well as  numerous individual refusenik cases.

"Father Drinan will be greatly missed for his commitment and his passion for those who could not speak for themselves.  The thousands of Soviet Jews now living in freedom have lost a great champion," said Levin.

NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia, founded in 1971, represents the organized American Jewish community in monitoring and advocating on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews living in the 15 successor states of the former Soviet Union.

Links:
Balto. Jewish Times: Father Drinan Recalled
JTA: Drinan mourned by Jewish leaders

Georgetown University Mourns Drinan
Congressional Biography
Boston Globe obituary

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Baltimore Jewish Times - 02.02.2007

Father Drinan Recalled

James D. Besser, Washington Correspondent

In a capital seething with partisan fury, the Rev. Robert Drinan (D-Mass.) was an oddity. The Catholic priest and social activist who spent 10 years in the House of Representatives until he was ordered by the Vatican to quit brought a rare civility and an overarching concern for human rights to politics.

Father Drinan, who taught at the Georgetown University law school after his time in Congress, died this week at the age of 86, and a number of Jewish leaders were quick to remember him with appreciation.

"He was a special person at a unique time who contributed quite a bit to our movement, "said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ, a Soviet Jewry group. "He was involved from the earliest time; he became an early leader in Congress on behalf of Natan Sharansky and other Prisoners of Zion, as well as lesser-known refuseniks."

Mr. Levin said that while the Jesuit priest focused heavily on human rights, "he worked with the Jewish community on a wide range of issues."

He was a "relentless foe of all forms of anti-Semitism and a lifelong supporter of Israel, deeply committed to the Jewish state’s survival and security," said Rabbi James Rudin, a senior advisor on interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee. "Drinan passionately believed in the promise of the Second Vatican Council and its call for positive Catholic-Jewish relations."

He was also a vigorous advocate for reparations for Holocaust survivors.

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JTA: Global Jewish News - 01.30.2007

Drinan mourned by Jewish leaders

(JTA)  - The Rev. Robert Drinan, a major advocate for Soviet Jewry and American-Israeli relations, died at age 86. 

Drinan, the first Roman Catholic priest elected to a voting position in the U.S. Congress, died Sunday in Washington after suffering from pneumonia and congestive heart failure. 

“Robert Drinan was a righteous Christian of our generation,” said Rabbi James Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser. 

Drinan was an active force in fostering Israeli-American relations. 

In 1972 he co-founded the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry, and in 1977 he wrote “Honor The Promise: America’s Commitment to Israel.” 

“Father Drinan will be greatly missed for his commitment and his passion for those who could not speak for themselves,” NCSJ Executive Director Mark Levin said. 

He served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 10 years in the 1970s and was the first to call for President Nixon’s impeachment for issues not related to Watergate. 

Supporting liberal policies such as opposition to the Vietnam draft and the abolishment of mandatory retirement, Drinan only stepped down from public office when Pope John Paul II forbade priests to hold such positions.

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NCSJ - 01.29.2007

NCSJ Mourns Passing of Rev. Drinan

Jesuit, Soviet Jewry Activist Dies at 86

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- NCSJ mourns the passing of Rev. Robert F. Drinan, S.J., who died Sunday. 

Father Drinan, a leading human rights activist, was the first Catholic priest elected, in 1970, as a voting member of the U.S. Congress, where he was a strong voice for the Soviet Jewry movement.  He was a co-founder of the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry, and a leader in the effort to free refuseniks from Soviet oppression.

NCSJ Executive Director Mark B. Levin recalled fondly the many opportunities that he had to work with Father Drinan on the overall human rights situation in the former Soviet Union, as well as  numerous individual refusenik cases.

"Father Drinan will be greatly missed for his commitment and his passion for those who could not speak for themselves.  The thousands of Soviet Jews now living in freedom have lost a great champion," said Levin.

NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia, founded in 1971, represents the organized American Jewish community in monitoring and advocating on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews living in the 15 successor states of the former Soviet Union.

Links:
Georgetown University Mourns Drinan
Congressional Biography
Boston Globe obituary