Barney Frank: “I think there is a common theme here. We have discussion again about the global morality of politics, and the role of…”

“I think there is a common theme here. We have discussion again about the global morality of politics, and the role of morality in our lives. Father Robert Drinan exemplified that. In his personal life for over 60 years a priest, he gave the exemplary disciplined life that he chose as a priest and adhered to a code of personal morality that very few human beings achieve with a dedication and a belief. At the same time, he recognized that the personal moral choices he made as a priest, and that he urged others to make, were those personal choices and voluntary choices, and he understood the difference in the scope of governance. He understood that there is a private morality and a public morality. Not that they are in conflict, but that they cover different spheres, and where human beings interact with each other, it is required that government set the rules. He was a man who did as much to make sure that those interactions were governed by a set of moral principles founded on what was for him a fundamental religious belief and the dignity of man.”