"Nothing in his [decade in Congress] / Became him like the leaving it"

The late Jesuit priest, Robert Drinan, was elected to the U.S. House two years before the Roe v. Wade decision.  During his tenure, Father Drinan (though claiming to be personally aghast at the practice) often spoke up in support of a mother’s freedom to abort.  An evangelical leader such as Jerry Falwell seemed more scandalized at the priest’s stance than Jesuit leaders or Cardinal Medeiros of Boston. 

Eventually, though, the Vatican forbade him from running for re-election.  Urged by many of his supporters to disregard the edict, Father Drinan showed no hesitation in displaying his nobler side:  "That would be unthinkable."

The tragedy of the nuns – such as this angry and confused sister in Saint Paul – who are currently facing off against Pope Benedict and the American bishops is that they are breaking faith with Drinan and Dorothy Day and earlier radicals.  They seem determined to send themselves to Coventry.