Father Robert F. Drinan National Peace and
Human Rights Award
Human Rights Award
2010 FATHER ROBERT DRINAN AWARDS
Rep. David Bonior, CLW Executive Director John Isaacs, Rep. Jim McGovern, CWA President Larry Cohen, UAW President Bob King
Council for a Livable World and the Center for Arms Control and Non Proliferation hosted its fifth annual Father Robert F. Drinan Peace and Human Rights Awards on October 7th honoring United Auto Workers President Bob King and Representative Jim McGovern.
The program was full of warmth, mutual admiration and good humor. Representative David Bonior, chairman of Council for a Livable World’s PeacePAC served as MC for the event. Communications Workers of America president Larry Cohen presented the award to UAW president Bob King and political professional Mary Beth Cahill presented the award to Representative Jim McGovern.
The speakers all told wonderful stories about the awardees and about Father Drinan. Bonior spoke of the time when he and King were arrested while protesting a Detroit News lockout and were booked by friendly policemen. Cahill talked about her early work with McGovern when he was a staffer for Rep. Joe Moakley. McGovern told the story of Father Drinan having claimed many times -- inaccurately -- that he performed the marriage ceremony of Jim and Lisa McGovern (so often that Speaker Pelosi repeated the canard at Drinan's funeral). Both King and McGovern spoke of the killing of the nuns and Archbishop Romero in El Salvador and the subsequent investigation. The awardees also reminded us about the social justice movement needed in this country, and what we can all do to aid in that effort.
This year’s Robert F. Drinan Awards exceeded our highest expectations. Thank you to all those who attended the event and to the many supporters who generously contributed to our work. We look forward to another great event in 2011.
Jim McGovern and Bob King
David Bonior, Mary Beth Cahill and Jim McGovern
ABOUT THE DRINAN AWARD
The Father Robert F. Drinan National Peace and Human Rights Award was established in 2006. The award is annually presented by the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and Council for a Livable World to individuals who exemplify the late Father Drinan's commitment to peace and human justice.
The award broadly focuses on U.S. politics, political science, physical science, biology, peace studies, and peace and human rights activism.
ABOUT FATHER ROBERT DRINAN
In 1970, Father Robert F. Drinan became the first Roman Catholic priest to be elected to the United States Congress. He served five terms as a congressman before an edict by Pope John Paul II forced him to choose between politics and his faith. He consistently championed legislation promoting peace and justice worldwide.
Drinan grew up in Hyde Park and was educated at Boston College. He became a Jesuit, got his law degree at Georgetown, and became dean of the Boston College Law School in 1956. Drinan set up a presidential scholars program to attract top students from around the country. He established the law review and a legal aid clinic in Waltham to help the poor. He was in the vanguard of those who transformed Boston College into a national institution.
Drinan had great intellectual curiosity, energy, and enthusiasm, and later he extended his influence across the city, calling for the desegregation of the Boston schools as part of a broader campaign to secure civil rights for minorities. He also came to oppose the Vietnam War.
With all the goodwill he generated, Drinan was a natural to run as an anti-war candidate for Congress in 1970. He defeated the Democratic incumbent and was invulnerable to conventional opposition during his 10 years in office. But he remained a Jesuit to the core, one of those remarkable men who used the skills acquired in the order to improve the world.
He became a professor at Georgetown Law School, headed Americans for Democratic Action, and worked on international issues for the American Bar Association. He returned often to Boston College, notably in October 2004, when he received the Distinguished Service Medal on the 75th anniversary of the Law School's founding.
Drinan was a longtime member of Council for a Livable World's Board of Directors.
PAST RECIPIENTS OF THE DRINAN AWARD
2009 - Congressman Barney Frank, Ambassador Robert Gallucci
2008 - Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congressman John Hall, Actor Richard Schiff
2007 - Senator Edward Kennedy
2006 - Father Robert F. Drinan
