Father Bob Drinan In May of 1971, Father Robert Drinan invited a ragtag group of college students into his Congressional office and offered them cold drinks. The UHaul 13, as the students satirically referred to themselves, had driven to Washington in a rented cargo van to protest the Vietnam War. He listened to their firsthand account of the ominous and illegal roundup[pdf] of thousands of people walking on the sidewalks outside the Nation's Capitol.

Father Drinan passed away Sunday afternoon, January 28th, one day after tens of thousands of protestors gathered in Washington to rally against the folly of another insidious White House. To know the life of Father Drinan is to realize he is as much an inspiration for citizens and politicians facing the moral questions of war, poverty and human rights today as he was thirty five years ago.

Father Drinan represented the Massachusetts 4th District in Congress for ten years until Pope John Paul II ruled that no priest could hold a legislative position.

Last year, Rep. Barney Frank, who was elected to Father Drinan's seat in 1980, remembered the Jesuit priest's role in those turbulent times on the house floor of Congress:

Father Drinan served here in this body for 10 years as one of its intellectual leaders, having been elected in 1970 as one of the most effective opponents at that time of the war in Vietnam. He also played a very significant role in the impeachment of President Nixon, insisting that appropriate legal standards be applied in that matter.

After his tenure in Congress, Father Drinan stayed in Washington at Georgetown University, where he taught over 6,000 students in international human rights, constitutional law and legal ethics.

Father Drinan continued teaching at Georgetown Law School until this semester when his health started to fail. His fellow Jesuits urged him to stay home. "What would I do?" he asked. "Rest." replied his colleagues. "But I don't rest in the afternoon," he said.

Besides his ten years in Congress and long career as a professor and Dean at Boston College Law School, Drinan authored nearly a dozen books. His last book, World War: Can God and Caesar Coexist? was published in 2004.

Father Drinan was a beacon of morality and lucidity for many. Rep. Ed Markey, from Massachusetts, visited Drinan in the hospital and called the him his "North Star of truth and justice."

Georgetown University posts Remembrances. National Public Radio has made available his interviews.

You never expect (or at least hope) that people like Bob are going to go and it's always so sad when they do.

- Marshall T. Spriggs