(LifeSiteNews) — William Goodman, a member of the “DC Nine” peaceful pro-life rescuers who are facing an unprecedented 11 years in prison, told LifeSiteNews that no matter what happens as a result of his sentencing next week, it “will be an opportunity to try and love, serve, and obey God.”
With six of his confreres who were found guilty of violating the FACE Act and participating in a “conspiracy against rights” for performing a traditional rescue at an abortion facility in 2020, Goodman has been held in federal custody at the Alexandria Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia, since late last summer awaiting sentencing by pro-abortion Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
The sentencing hearings begin next Tuesday, May 14, and conclude on the following Friday.
Fellow rescuer John Hinshaw describes their crime as “attempting to stop the slaughter of late-term babies in the Santangelo abortion mill in Washington, D.C.” Additionally, the importance of these sentences cannot be overstated, since never before has “peaceful civil disobedience faced such legal violence as our federal law enforcement is now practicing!”
With the prospect of facing up to more than a decade in prison for what he describes as “kneeling on the floor in prayer,” Goodman was asked for his thoughts as he approaches his own sentencing next Tuesday.
“Well, I’m trying to cultivate what St. Ignatius describes as ‘holy indifference,’” that is, “I don’t care what happens. Whatever transpires, it will be an opportunity to try to love and serve and obey God. I simply want to try to do my best in following His will,” he said. “So whatever happens will be for my good.”
He recalled an old friend in Wisconsin named Deacon Jack Fernan, who once assured him prior to a sentencing he received for a previous peaceful rescue, “Will, wherever you’re going, Jesus is already there,” a maxim that continues to give him consolation.
RELATED: Pro-life rescuer forgives former colleague who became gov’t witness in DC FACE Act trial
However, “there is the practical side,” the 52-year-old native of central Illinois said, “you hope for the best, but you prepare for the worst. Yet, I don’t even know how to begin to prepare for 11 years. I mean, the judge can literally say ‘11 years,’ and there’s nothing my attorney can do about it, apart from the appeal.”
“So how do I prepare for that when I thought the worst-case scenario, when I got into this, would be serving six months for violating FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act)? Well, now, I’m already heading into my ninth month.”
“Hence, all you can really do is surrender to God’s will,” he said, recalling the lives of the saints. “Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Joan of Arc, St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, St. Louis, St. John of the Cross, to name a few, they were taken into custody, into jail, into prison, not knowing what the future would hold, but knowing Who held the future. They knew Who held them in His hand,” he recalled.
“And I’m trying to remember their great example, trying to follow, ever so haltingly, in their steps, realizing that all of this is for the greater glory of God, so long as I stick to His will and try to be faithful to my small part in His plan,” said Goodman, who has an advanced theology degree from Ave Maria University.
‘Heartbreaking’: DOJ lies to contrive praying nonviolent rescuers as ‘violent’
Asked if there have been any indications or reasonable speculations regarding the possible outcome of the sentencing, he said Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a longer imprisonment trying to make the case these nonviolent rescuers where actually “violent” due to the obstructing of “very vulnerable victims.”
“The irony, of course, is the most vulnerable victims are being dismembered alive in their ninth month of pregnancy” inside the abortion center, Goodman observed.
“Unfortunately, the DOJ has contrived these crazy lies in their pre-sentencing memorandum arguing that because we were standing outside of the door, that one of the abortion mill workers, who claims she twisted her ankle — which she probably did while beating up on grandmothers — said she didn’t leave due to our blocking her egress.” For the DOJ, this is an act of “violence,” he said.
And yet the FBI and the Washington, D.C. Metro Police were on the scene, observing all of this, freely “going in and out” as were boyfriends. “So, it’s really kind of heartbreaking when you realize your federal government, at the highest levels of criminal justice, is telling lies about their citizens in order to impose significantly more punitive sentences. It’s really kind of heartbreaking,” Goodman lamented.
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Yet the pro-life rescuer who also once participated as a delegate to a Vatican Congress at the behest of Cardinal Raymond Burke, recalled sit-ins he had done in the past, such as at the offices of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Bob Dole where he and others “spent about two hours in jail. Now we’re looking at (a potential) 11 years!” he said, highlighting the gross injustice.
He surmised in this case the DOJ would likely be asking the judge for a sentence of at least three-and-a-half or four years, with five or six for those deemed to be leaders.
“And this is completely unprecedented in the history of, not only the pro-life movement, but non-violent protest movements in the history of the United States,” he said.
“Maybe the closest comparable case was when people were violating the federal fugitive slave act. At that time the government was seeking very, very serious prison sentences for violators. I think you have to go back that far in American history to find something similar to what is happening here,” Goodman asserted.
Pro-lifers implored to write the judge in defense of self-less rescuers who ‘acted to defend life’
Asked if he had anything he wanted to say to LifeSiteNews readers, he first expressed his gratitude to many who have been kind enough to write him letters and emails, calling it an experience of God’s grace within the walls of his “monastery of hard knocks” where he works to keep a steady prayer life and longs for Holy Mass, which is only available sporadically, and dearly misses being with his family and friends.
He also asked LifeSite readers to please pray for fellow rescuer Father Fidelis Moscinski, who is “in the notorious D.C. jail,” which has also been criticized for imposing harsh treatment and “political persecution” on defendants charged with crimes related to the January 6, 2021 disturbance at the U.S. Capitol.
Fr. Fidelis is “a true good shepherd who does not run from the wolf. He does not abandon the sheep and he throws his heart into the teachings of the Church and is prepared to embrace the cross,” he said.
On the website of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Dr. Monica Miller has passionately implored pro-lifers, in anticipation of this historic sentencing, to “PLEASE write to the judge” on the behalf of these pro-life rescuers.
RELATED: Pro-life prisoner took part in DC rescue ‘as if the life of the Preborn Christ Child was at stake’
“Beg her to be lenient, emphasize that eight of the pro-lifers have been in jail already for months! Ask for ‘time served.’ These pro-lifers have been sitting in jail already longer than many others who have been convicted for similar ‘protest’ sit-in type activity.
“Emphasize that these are truly good people, motivated by love for others — indeed some are possibly living saints! They acted to help the mothers coming to the Santangelo abortion center and to defend the innocent unborn who are killed there through the ninth month of pregnancy! The judge should consider that these self-less pro-lifers acted to defend life. Human lives were at stake! This is the truth. This is the objective reality,” she said, providing the mailing address and emphasizing letters must be received by May 13.
Letters to the judge should be respectful and polite. Write to:
COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY
United States District Judge
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
333 Constitution Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20001
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