WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Robert Drinan was elected president of the Americans for Democratic Action Saturday, returning to the political arena with a charge that Moral Majority conservatives are 'enemies of the country.'
The Roman Catholic priest, who gave up his seat in Congress last year when Pope John Paul II ordered priests to stay out of politics, told ADA members they are 'battling for the soul of America' when they fight Reagan administration cuts in social programs.
'The Moral Majority and the radical right wing are the enemies of this country,' the five-term former congressman said.
Talking to reporters outside the meeting room, Drinan predicted the current popularity of conservative causes will be brief.
'This is just a moment and things will settle down,' he said, adding that liberals may be disheartened, but not defeated.
The 34th annual ADA convention got under way only hours after President Reagan won a second budget victory in the House, cutting or eliminating a number of liberal programs. A few delegates wore 'Flaming Liberal' T-shirts.
ADA spokesman Harry Margolis said the 500 delegates were 'optimistic in the long term.' He said membership in the organization, which had been declining, had risen since Reagan's inauguration and totals about 60,000.
More members are joining the ADA than at any time since it was established in 1948, Drinan said.
Drinan, who succeeds three-term president Patsy T. Mink, said he will try to double membership and raise $1 million by next year for the lobbying efforts by the organization closely associated with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
ADA is small compared to some conservative groups but its influence has been 'disproportionate through the years,' Drinan said.
Drinan said he also will work closely with Democratic leaders to 'hold the House in Democratic hands next year.'
The House vote Friday went 'contrary to all the priorities we in ADA have been working for,' he said, contending that the administration's policies transferred $35 billion 'from the poor to the Pentagon.'
'We don't want to get the government off our backs,' he said. 'Free enterprise is not the one force than can solve everything ... Free enterprise can be very cruel.'
'We need the gentle force of government,' Drinan said.
Drinan told reporters the president's plan to reduce inflation by cutting back on government spending is a 'simplification, but people believe it.'
'The only thing they're right on is the milk subsidy, I would have voted against that,' he said.
Americans, he said, while 'hurting over inflation' were no less compassionate than before. He said a lack of political leadership is to blame for 'people having forgotten the poor.'
'We must keep focusing on the needs of Americans domestically,' he said.
Drinan also attacked the administration's decision to end the Legal Services program and its wavering stand on the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The Reagan administration has 'a whole new approach to government,' he said. 'They don't want the government to help people.'