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From the FBI: the files on Father Drinan

E-mail|Link|Comments (4) Posted by Michael Paulson January 28, 2009 03:59 PM

Today is the second anniversary of the death of former U.S. Rep. Robert F. Drinan, a Massachusetts Democrat who was the only Jesuit priest ever to serve in Congress. Drinan was always concerned about the contents of his FBI file, because he thought the FBI inappropriately kept tabs on him because of his liberal political views. The Globe recently obtained Drinan's FBI file through a Freedom of Information Act request, and I have a story about the content's in today's paper. An excerpt:

The file is unlikely to reshape history's view of the only Jesuit priest to serve in Congress, but it provides a backstage look at the dispute between the congressman and the agency and a reminder of how much the FBI changed over the second half of the 20th century.
In the 1970s and before, the FBI clearly viewed the congressman as potential trouble. At one point, when Drinan was quoted by a news service denouncing Attorney General John N. Mitchell as "the most dangerous attorney general that we have ever had," an FBI official scribbled on a document, "This fellow Drinan is like McGovern + Anderson - anything to get publicity."

The document does not make clear who McGovern and Anderson are, but the references seem likely to be to Senator George S. McGovern and either US Representative John B. Anderson or Jack Anderson, a syndicated newspaper columnist.

But by 1994, when the FBI was asked to do a background check on Drinan for a possible federal appointment, the tone was completely different. The file is packed with testimonials from Drinan's colleagues describing him in highly laudatory terms.

(Photo, by Frank C. Curtian of AP, shows Father Drinan greeting Vietnam veterans in Concord in 1971.)

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4 comments so far...

The Jesuits used to be the cream of the crop. There are some GREAT Jesuits around: Fr. Spitzer from Gonzaga, Fr. Fessio, and others. But they are now an exception. BC is hardly a "Catholic" university any more. Too bad. Fr. Drinan, unfortunately, stoked the flames of dissent, and whose legacy can be seen in anti-Catholic democratic politics, promulgated by the phoney "Catholic" politicians: Kennedy (many of them), Polosi, Dodd, Leahy, Kerry, Harkin, and on and on and on....

They can do what they want, but their claim to being "Catholic" is a disgraceful scandal, and they have and continue to enable conduct which is gravely contrary to the Church to which they claim to belong. May God have mercy on them

Posted by KJR January 28, 09 04:55 PM

Ditto to what KJR said, especially giving all the above so-called 'Catholic' politicians a fig leaf on abortion.

Posted by gaudete January 28, 09 06:37 PM

KJR is out-to-lunch as usual. Rep Drinan helped put an end to the criminal Vietnam Wart and stood in the forefront for social justice.
KJR, may God have mercy on your pathetic soul

Posted by jake January 29, 09 01:16 PM

Jake, thank you for your Christian wishes. Social justice is one thing, murder of the unborn is quite another. Funny how those who "chose" to be "pro-abortion" have their ability to make that "choice". I wonder what the unborn babies would chose?

Posted by KJR January 30, 09 04:45 PM

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Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

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Harvey Cox, the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard University, marks his retirement by asserting a little-used right of his professorship -- to graze a cow in Harvard Yard. Photo, by Barry Chin of the Globe staff, taken on Sept. 10, 2009 in Cambridge, Mass.