My Brief Contact with Father Robert Drinan
Title
My Brief Contact with Father Robert Drinan
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"In the fall of 1965, I went to work for the US Commission on Civil Rights as a Field Representative in Washington, DC. "
Date
2007-02-08
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Coverage
1965/1979
Identifier
People_Father_Drinan
Text
My Brief Contact with Father Robert Drinan
In the fall of 1965, I went to work for the US Commission on Civil Rights as a Field Representative in Washington, DC. One of my first assignments was to work with the Massachusetts State Advisory Committee. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee was The Reverend Robert F. Drinan, S.J. I had worked with Jewish community leaders, labor leaders, political leaders, and gang leaders, but never with a leader of the Catholic church, especially someone who was also the dean of Boston College Law School.
I flew up to Boston from Washington with some trepidation. Fortunately, one of the members of the Committee was an old friend and colleague, Julius Bernstein. We had worked together in the Jewish Labor Committee. I called Julie to get some idea what I was getting into. He told me Father Drinan was a great guy and I had nothing to worry about.
The meeting of the Advisory Committee was held on the campus of Boston College. I arrived early, found the meeting room, and as I entered, I was greeted by a tall, friendly priest with piercing blue eyes, who announced to the other Advisory Committee members, "This must be our shepherd." At future meetings, whenever I showed up, he greeted me with "Here is our shepherd." I could never think of Father Bob and the other members of the Advisory Committee as sheep.
They were a wonderful group. The vice chairman, who succeeded Father Drinan when he stepped down to run for Congress, was Bob Segal, Director of the Boston JCRC. Other members included civil rights activists Paul Parks and Noel Day, Professors Vickie Schuck of Smith and Clark Byse of Harvard, Attorney Thomas Murphy of Hyannis and Reverend John Burgess of Boston. For the most part, Advisory Committees tended to be made up of teachers, preachers and lawyers, but the Massachusetts Committee was more diverse. And if there was anybody who saw to it that the Committee did its job, it was Father Drinan. The year that I worked with him was a very good year. I handled all the Committee's paper work. But it was Father Drinan who set the agenda. Under his leadership, the Committee investigated problems of discrimination in education and employment in Roxbury, and housing discrimination in Springfield, and many other civil rights issues across the State.
I maintained limited contact with Father Drinan after 1966, and had the good fortune to see him from time to time when he served in Congress. In 1979, I came to Boston as the Director of the New England Region of the Civil Rights Commission and soon met State Representative Barney Frank, and a year later, Father Drinan was forced to step down, Barney ran for his seat, and the rest is history.
Jacob Schlitt, Feb. 8, 2007
In the fall of 1965, I went to work for the US Commission on Civil Rights as a Field Representative in Washington, DC. One of my first assignments was to work with the Massachusetts State Advisory Committee. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee was The Reverend Robert F. Drinan, S.J. I had worked with Jewish community leaders, labor leaders, political leaders, and gang leaders, but never with a leader of the Catholic church, especially someone who was also the dean of Boston College Law School.
I flew up to Boston from Washington with some trepidation. Fortunately, one of the members of the Committee was an old friend and colleague, Julius Bernstein. We had worked together in the Jewish Labor Committee. I called Julie to get some idea what I was getting into. He told me Father Drinan was a great guy and I had nothing to worry about.
The meeting of the Advisory Committee was held on the campus of Boston College. I arrived early, found the meeting room, and as I entered, I was greeted by a tall, friendly priest with piercing blue eyes, who announced to the other Advisory Committee members, "This must be our shepherd." At future meetings, whenever I showed up, he greeted me with "Here is our shepherd." I could never think of Father Bob and the other members of the Advisory Committee as sheep.
They were a wonderful group. The vice chairman, who succeeded Father Drinan when he stepped down to run for Congress, was Bob Segal, Director of the Boston JCRC. Other members included civil rights activists Paul Parks and Noel Day, Professors Vickie Schuck of Smith and Clark Byse of Harvard, Attorney Thomas Murphy of Hyannis and Reverend John Burgess of Boston. For the most part, Advisory Committees tended to be made up of teachers, preachers and lawyers, but the Massachusetts Committee was more diverse. And if there was anybody who saw to it that the Committee did its job, it was Father Drinan. The year that I worked with him was a very good year. I handled all the Committee's paper work. But it was Father Drinan who set the agenda. Under his leadership, the Committee investigated problems of discrimination in education and employment in Roxbury, and housing discrimination in Springfield, and many other civil rights issues across the State.
I maintained limited contact with Father Drinan after 1966, and had the good fortune to see him from time to time when he served in Congress. In 1979, I came to Boston as the Director of the New England Region of the Civil Rights Commission and soon met State Representative Barney Frank, and a year later, Father Drinan was forced to step down, Barney ran for his seat, and the rest is history.
Jacob Schlitt, Feb. 8, 2007
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “My Brief Contact with Father Robert Drinan,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 29, 2024, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/51.