From Archbishop Donoghue

Remarks at the State Capitol
January 22, 1999
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Dear Friends,

Today it is my honor to greet all who have come here to witness for life, and to join you, as from the steps of our beloved State's Capitol, we show our own community and the rest of the world, that we are the living children of the same God - living children of the One who has made us and given us life - obedient to the duty He has placed on us above all other duties, to hold sacred His first gift, the gift of life, for as long as we have it - and to hold sacred life where it cannot protect itself - by loving and defending our children, born and unborn, and by loving all men and women, who cannot stand on their own behalf.

To that defense, dear friends, of life both young and old, let us pledge again today our hearts and our bodies, so that God may use us, as peaceful weapons of repentance and love. Where the enemies of life gather, to build the torture chambers known as abortion clinics, and to foster the hideous practice so perversely called "reproductive freedom", let us promise to gather also, to draw the line, and stand ready, even as the martyrs stood - ready to endure the worst, so that the best may have a chance - the chance that a young mother may turn back from the doorway of hell, may turn away from the false and deceitful lie called "choice", may think again, about the innocent holiness of the child she carries, and of how she is about to destroy a part of herself, and put in its place the burden, the memory of sin - a sin that may be forgiven, but will never be forgot.

We know that God has given us victory for some of these mothers - no more is seen, every day, the tragic faces of young women, egged on by those who pretend concern, making their sad way down the sidewalks of Ponce de Leon Avenue, into the hell-hole called Midtown Hospital, that grotesque labyrinth of pain and filth and mockery - for what can we say of those who own and operate such horrors, having the audacity to call them "facilities of excellent health care", except that they make a mockery of God and of human beings. Well, they are the fools, and by the power of love, those particular devils have met their match - in the persistent faithful witness of Georgia's right-to-lifers, in the slow, but strong power of the State to shut down unclean, unsafe public facilities, and finally and foremost, in the will of God, the Father of us all, who will NOT be mocked.

Dear friends, we deplore the law, or the twisting of the law, which allows these terrible establishments to spring up among us. They are like the cancerous tumor, filling our society with sickness and fear, and threatening its very life. We have radiated this one tumor with our love and our patience and our unflagging demand to see it shrunken and gone - and now it is gone. But just as the real cancer sends its belligerent destructive cells careening through the body, looking for a new place to hide and breed, so it is with the abortionists, and with those who back their satanic work. And so, we must now shift our attention from the victory won, to the battles yet fought - to other sites, in this city, in this state, and in this nation, where abortions still happen - where they happen on this very day and at this very minute - in arrogant disregard for our outrage, and the outrage of people across this vast country, who cannot, and will not stand, any longer, for God's dearest blessings upon us to be destroyed, like so much garbage.

Let us pray, dear friends, that our example may grow stronger - that the light which flows through us, the light of Truth, will blind into conversion those who have yet to see the Truth in light, and destroy in them, the sickness which tolerates, accepts, and then protects in law, murder, suicide, and the extermination of infant children. May God hear our prayer, as we come before Him today, one family, many children, and together - for a lifetime, and for all life.

Thank you.

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