BOSTON (AP) – The Rev. Robert Drinan’s family, friends and colleagues gathered Saturday to remember a man whose career took him to the altar, the classroom and to Congress.

Drinan, a Jesuit who was the first Roman Catholic priest elected as a voting member of Congress, died one week earlier in Washington. The 86-year-old had suffered from pneumonia and congestive heart failure.

“This extraordinary man, this funny, open, accessible human being dedicated an extraordinary life as an author, as a priest, as a law teacher, as a law administrator, as a member of Congress … to the central cause of exemplifying what a moral approach to politics truly means,” said U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, who replaced Drinan in the House in 1981.

Drinan represented Massachusetts in Congress for 10 years. He stepped down only after a worldwide directive from Pope John Paul II barring priests from holding public office.

During his career, Drinan opposed the draft and the Vietnam War, worked to abolish mandatory retirement and raised eyebrows with his more moderate views on abortion and birth control.

“He was a tough, smart politician,” said Frank, a Democrat who was among three eulogists at the funeral held at the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola on the campus of Boston College. Among other politicians who attended were Gov. Deval Patrick and Sen. John Kerry.

Drinan did his undergraduate studies at BC, then served as the dean of the Boston College Law School from 1956 to 1970, when he was elected to Congress.

The Rev. William McInnes said Drinan moved in the highest social and political circles in Washington, but always returned to the Jesuits.

As a congressman, his first stop when he came to Boston was always to a home for ill and elderly Jesuits.

“His life, his career was driven not by personal ambition,” McInnes said. “He spent his life trying to combine a service of others with a deep faith in the love of God.”

McInnes said Drinan’s life was one of freedom filled with grace.

“He challenges us not to be afraid to go down paths nobody’s gone through before,” McInnes said. “He challenges also not to be intimidated by opposition and contradiction and even by our own mistakes.”

Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School, focused on Drinan’s work as an internationally known human-rights advocate. Drinan traveled the world in the role, linking the cause to movements for demilitarization, democracy, international labor rights and a livable environment, Koh said.

Koh said Drinan was always ahead of the curve, for example writing about the right for food, a regional tribunal for human rights and how the death penalty violates international law.

“What made him special was his unique ability to fight fiercely every day for human rights, while just as fiercely loving every human being he met,” said Koh, whose father was admitted to Boston College Law School after a single meeting with Drinan. “Like Jesus, he instinctively saw every scene from the perspective of the smallest and meekest person in the room.”

Those mourning Drinan’s death also honored his sense of humor with several bursts of laugher, none greater than when Koh told about the last time he had seen the priest at the dedication of the Robert Drinan Chair in Human Rights at Georgetown Law School.

“At the dinner afterward, Bob rose and said, ‘People ask me how I got so much done in my life. The answer is simple: celibacy,”‘ Koh said.