January 21, 1998

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

God calls us to respect and protect the dignity of each and every human life. This is why we defend human life against actions or influences that destroy, weaken or threaten it from the moment the human person comes into existence until his or her last breath.

Three years ago, in his encyclical called The Gospel of Life, (Pope John Paul II spoke with great insight of our time. He noted how we now find ourselves in a conflict between good and evil, a conflict between a culture of life and a culture of death. He spoke of children starving because of the unjust distribution of resources, the scandalous arms trade which spawns war, the spread of drugs and the promotion of dangerous and immoral sexual activity. All these and more, he admonished, are threats to human life.

But Pope John Paul called special attention to another "category" on attacks of life, attacks which affect life in its earliest and its final stages. He emphasized the evil of destroying innocent human life through abortion and euthanasia, which always constitute a grave moral disorder. Sadly, these acts, once universally deplored and rejected, are today increasingly accepted.

Our cultural climate lends to such acts a particular character that is disquieting. Many now justify the taking of innocent human life, whether by abortion or euthanasia, in the name of personal freedom and rights. Government, some insist, should affirm such actions as both legal and good. The result is tragic. Human lives are destroyed, and many find it difficult to distinguish between good and evil concerning the very value of human life itself. Once human life is seen as having no value prior to birth, it is a short step to being considered of little or no value after birth.

In the past two years, we have been engaged in a national debate about partial-birth abortion--the brutal destruction of a living child in the very process of being born. Congress twice passed a law to ban this inhumane procedure. Twice President Clinton vetoed it. In 1998, Congress will attempt again to override the President's veto. While the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to override, the Senate remains several votes short of this margin.

The bishops of the United States have asked Catholics throughout the country to again make their voices heard on this important issue. In the next few weeks, our archdiocese will take part in a nationwide postcard campaign, enabling parishioners to urge their Senators to override the President's veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Here in Georgia, Senator Paul Coverdell voted to ban partial-birth abortion; Senator Max Cleland voted to keep this inhumane practice legal. The postcards we send to Senator Paul Coverdell will thank him for voting to stop partial-birth abortions, and urge him to encourage colleagues to do the same. Postcards to Senator Max Cleland will urge him to reconsider, and to help override the President's veto. I urge all in our diocese to take part in this important effort.

How has it come to be that we are actually debating whether or not it should be legal, or even excusable, to kill a defenseless baby in the process of what would otherwise be a live birth? In short, our nation began walking down this path 25 years ago when the U.S. Supreme Court said that the lives of children not yet born could be destroyed at will. A quarter-century of legalized killing of one class of human beings had led predictably to the acceptance of killing other classes of human beings. Today we hear of numerous instances of young women or couples killing their newborn children. Respected scientists, in prestigious news outlets, offer excuses for such killing. Where does it stop?

As Catholics, we are a people who love and celebrate life. We show special favor to those who are poor, all alone or most in need of help and friendship. We cannot tolerate discrimination or injustice, for all human life, at every stage, is a gift from God and is therefore good. But we must always remember that it is "impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop."

In The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul challenges us to "work with perseverance and courage so that our time, marked by all too many signs of death, may at last witness the establishment of a new culture of life."

It is my prayer that all of us in the Archdiocese of Atlanta will rise to the challenge and be what we are meant to be: A People of Life.

With kind regards and every best wish, I am

Sincerely in Christ.

Most Reverend John F. Donoghue

Archbishop of Atlanta