by Gretchen Keiser

Although the sun was shining, a somber mood characterized Jan. 22 events in Atlanta protesting the prevalence of abortion in the United States.

A Mass for the Unborn, celebrated at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the morning, attracted an overflow crowd estimated at about 1,000.

A rally and silent march, that followed at the adjacent state Capitol, drew about 10,000 participants, according to Georgia Right To Life.

Archbishop John F. Donoghue, homilist at the Mass and also one of the speakers on the Capitol steps, starkly depicted a society that is callous and morally adrift.

He also praised the “righteous anger” of those who will not accept “the destruction of innocent human life...as a normal part of everyday American life.”

“I read your hearts, and I say that this is not to be so--that the cause of human life is not to be laid by, or put off to a later day, or compromised in any way whatsoever--and the agents who would have us do so must contend with our righteous anger and our stubborn wills,” the archbishop said in his homily. He added that “we have the Word of God taught with the authority of the true Church on our side.”

Although many people were standing in aisles and the choir loft, the church was silent throughout the homily, but sharp applause broke out when the archbishop finished. He spoke critically of “the nurses and doctors of abortion agencies, who do not hesitate to take the fee and prosper by their murderous acts.”

The decision of the Clinton administration to require states to pay for Medicaid abortions for women pregnant by rape or incest, as well as for the life of the mother, was criticized, as was the expected inclusion of abortion in a future national health care plan.

Finally the archbishop linked the nation’s wave of violence by children with the evil of abortion.

“All around us there are important meetings of governmental boards taking place, political scientists and statisticians muddle over the percentages, theorists create so many possibilities that befuddlement seems to be informed debate, and politicians answer without answering at all the question that plagues our society: ‘Why are our children killing us?’” the archbishop said. “And there is only one answer: They are killing us because we are killing them.”

The only hope reiterated throughout the day was spiritual in nature, based upon the certainty that the “battle is the Lord’s and so too will be the victory.”

A replica of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which began a pilgrimage of various parishes Jan. 22, was reverenced by many at the end of the Mass.

Archbishop Donoghue also read a prayer of consecration, committing the families of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, as well as the clergy and Religious and all ministries of the Church, to Our Lady of Guadalupe and asking for conversion, healing and reconciliation to flow from this event.

The image was later carried in the march and taken to three Atlanta abortion clinics where the rosary was prayed peacefully and without incident.

Father Peter Wood, pro-life director of the Florida Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, spoke of the need for evangelization to address the evil of abortion.

When Mary appeared to the Indian Juan Diego in 1531, child sacrifice was practiced in the Aztec culture, Father Wood said. Within 10 years following the apparition, Mexico underwent massive conversion to Christianity and the practice ceased.

“What we are experiencing today is not altogether unlike what was happening in Mexico 462 years ago,” he said. “Mary presented herself as the star of evangelization. She said, ‘I am the mother of the one true God’...The bishops of Mexico have sent this image and blessed it and they present it to us as a precious gift to our country” for the ending of abortion and conversion to Christ.

While most people taking part in the Mass, march and rally were lay people, the motivating power of the clergy was frequently stressed.

“(The archbishop) is definitely not afraid to speak out and speak the truth and we all need that desperately,” said Martha Heizer of St. Philip Benizi parish in Jonesboro. Fellow parishioner Connie Zaworski expressed disappointment at the number of priests, about 15, who concelebrated the Saturday Mass, fewer than last year with the anniversary of Roe v. Wade fell on a weekday.

“The homily of the archbishop was fantastic, he came right out and said it,” said Evelio Garcia-Carreras, deacon from St. John Neumann in Lilburn. About 50 parishioners from Lilburn and its mission came on a school bus. After 10 years in the pro-life movement, Lucy King of the St. Marguerite d’Youville mission, says she has become bolder. “Now no one holds me back. God is going to say to us one day, ‘Where were you?’ We are all accountable.”

“Abortion won’t end by human efforts...It will be through Mary and her son,” said Thad McCormack of St. Michael’s in Gainesville, when asked why he carried a statue of Mary in the march. Father Bill Hoffman, pastor, accompanies a parish group from St. Michael’s.

Father Balappa Selvaraj from St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Alpharetta said he came out of “respect and love for the unborn child” and in memory of his 24-year-old sister who died in childbirth in India last year. He said he was also showing his shared faith with the archbishop. “Love is the unifying bond that brings all together,” he said, “love for the unborn, love for the principles God laid down.”

The pro-life office of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, directed by Peggy Sinanian, is a key organization cooperating with Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) for the annual march, said Mary Boyert, executive director of GRTL.

Project Life, a postcard campaign urging U.S. senators and representatives to separate abortion from national health care reform, was carried out in many archdiocesan parishes the weekend of Jan. 22 and 23. Postcards were also made available to the thousands of people taking part in the march.

Mrs. Boyert said the mood of the gathering was somber, reflecting the reaction of pro-life citizens to an administration in Washington steadily undoing every protection for the unborn.

“I think that has been hard for people to take,” she said. “We probably need to encourage folks.”

She termed the archbishop’s link between rising violence by children and abortion “100 percent correct.”

“For any of us in the movement, this has got to be obvious...If you lose respect for one part of life, you lose respect for all life...It ought to be sobering.”