(LifeSiteNews) — The following is the transcript of a speech given by Fr. David Nix outside the New Jersey courthouse where hours later he and others were found guilty of trespassing for their efforts to save babies’ lives during a Red Rose Rescue at a New Jersey abortion center in 2019. The transcript for Fr. Fidelis’ speech can be found here.
Full transcript:
Thank you for coming. My name is Father David Nix, and thank you to my co-defendants. As Father just said right there, before I came out, a priest said to me, “make sure you don’t have any hero worship. Don’t get prideful about what you’re doing.” I think that was good advice.
One of my favorite saints is Saint Catherine of Siena. And when she looked at the Church crisis, the very Church crisis with two popes that she was asked to heal, to fix, she believed the situation in the Church was due to her own sins, even though she never committed a mortal sin. What an example that is for us, to say, “Maybe if it weren’t for my sins, abortion wouldn’t be legal in this country.”
And that’s one of those reasons where as we look at the state of the world right now, the first person who we pray for as far as conversion is our own. I pray for my conversion in all of this, that I may not be prideful, to be chosen, to stand for life. Because maybe abortion wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for my sins.
But the other side of the coin, I’m also not ashamed to be here. Think of history of the last couple hundred years. Think of who was told they’re not human beings. Do you think if 200 years ago someone had tied himself to a tree where there was going to be slaves whipped, he would feel ashamed for that?
Think of if 80 years ago someone had tied himself to a gas chamber so people didn’t die in there. Would he be ashamed of doing that? He would not be. And so we’re not ashamed to be here at all. And notice in the analogies I just gave you, there’s there’s no violence in that. I think history would be fine with anyone who did harm to a gas chamber, but we didn’t even do that.
We stood between killers and children. It’s really that simple. We stood between killers and children, and that’s it. And if you can’t see that, you might be on the wrong side of history. As Father Nolan said, God is the only one who determines reality. Saint Thomas Aquinas says, all of you know, teaches, an unjust law is no law at all.
Therefore, to stand between a killer and an innocent, tiny child, is absolutely nothing I’m ashamed of today. And you shouldn’t either, for standing with us. Thank you for coming. God bless you.
