In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, Father George Clements, founder and president of One Church One Child, Inc., recently spoke at an adoption celebration at St. Anthony of Padua Church.

Sponsored by One Church, One Child of Georgia, Inc., and the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), the event, which featured a reception and dinner, was held Nov. 18.

As a nationally renowned priest, Father Clements made headlines fighting against drug addiction, crime, racial discrimination and inadequate childcare in the 1960s and ‘70s. In 1980, Father Clements again gained public attention when he became the first Roman Catholic priest to adopt a child; he subsequently adopted three more sons.

That adoption was the catalyst for the foundation of One Church One Child. Father Clements asked his fellow clergymen to call upon their congregations to find one family to adopt one African-American child each year. Operating in 32 states, One Church One Child programs have assisted in the placement of more than 170,000 children nationally in homes over the last 24 years.