NOR: The Passing of 'Fr. Death'

Fr. Robert Drinan, S.J., died at the end of the same month he presided over the inaugural Mass for the new U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. For liberal Catholics, his passing was an occasion of nostalgia for the hopeful days that surrounded the changes brought by Vatican II. He was one of a number of "progressive" Jesuits who helped convince a generation of Catholic politicians -- including the Catholic Kennedy family -- that they could support liberalized abortion laws yet still remain in good standing with the Catholic Church.
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...for orthodox Catholics, Fr. Drinan's death was a requiem for a sad time in the Church -- and for the country. It was a time when Catholic priests like Fr. Drinan enabled Catholic politicians and voters to rationalize support for pro-abortion legislative initiatives. Prolife Catholics sadly recall that, while serving as the Democratic Representative from Massachusetts from 1970 until 1980, Fr. Drinan could be counted on to provide some of the most extreme pro-choice votes, supporting legalized abortion and its public funding, and opposing prolife initiatives.
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What perplexes orthodox Catholics most is that Fr. Drinan remained a priest with "full faculties," enabling him to administer the Sacraments and to preside over the Mass at Trinity University in Washington, D.C., for pro-choice politician Nancy Pelosi, a Trinity alumna -- despite the fact that for more than 2,000 years the Catholic Church has affirmed the moral evil of abortion.

Indeed, it remains a grave scandal that far too many bishops and superiors have failed to admonish and discipline those who teach and promote heresy.

One might wonder if this is due to a lack of courage and fortitude? Perhaps some even believe and hold the same positions as Drinan and others? It's at times difficult to tell because of the silence.

New Oxford Review article here.