Sister Helen Prejean Speaks to Packed House at The Immaculata
By - Posted on January 9, 2012
ALCALA PARK — Sister Helen Prejean, or the “Death Penalty Nun” as she calls herself, visited the University of San Diego Nov. 20, sharing her faith-filled journey and the very day that a man’s methodical death allowed her to become fully alive.
The crowd inside The Immaculata Church, which was filled to capacity, listened to her stories; many wept and later cheered.
The author of Dead Man Walking, which inspired the film of the same name starring actress Susan Sarandon, was invited to speak at the request of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps. Following Sister Prejean’s two-hour talk, attendees leaving The Immaculata were greeted by signature-takers for the death penalty replacement initiative sponsored by Safe California.
In a private interview the day of her USD speech, Sister Prejean explained how she affirms her Catholic identity in a world where constant calls for retribution conflict with her own unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, and why airplanes and airports are her new cloister.
It was in 1981 that Sister Prejean experienced a spiritual awakening after beginning her prison ministry in the St. Thomas housing project in New Orleans. Already armed with a bachelor’s degree in English, Sister Prejean forecasted her calling as a teacher. Her favorite age group was middle-schoolers. She imagined herself growing old in the classroom, helping students with their sentence diagrams and correcting essays on favorite summer vacations.
Little did she know that she would find her own voice, a comfortable and authentic style of writing, when she started living and interacting daily with the community at St. Thomas. There, she met families who had fathers, brothers and neighbors already imprisoned.
“I learned how to write from death row,” she shared.
Since experiencing her first execution, witnessing the death of Patrick Sonnier on April 5, 1984, Sister Prejean has watched five other men die through the U.S. justice system. She keeps death row statistics nationwide on her Web site, www.prejean.org. She firmly believes that the death penalty can be overturned in states that uphold it, including California, through education and by focusing on young people.
She has partnered with the writer/director of the film “Dead Man Walking,” Tim Robbins, to further reach younger generations through the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project. To date, no high schools or colleges in San Diego County have participated in this outreach. (For more information, visit www.dmwplay.org.)
Diminutive in stature, but dynamic in nature, Sister Prejean travels most of the year and takes respite in the winter and summer months for writing. She is currently working on the 2013 release of her autobiography, River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey. This body of work will retrace her privileged childhood in Louisiana, tell how she recognized her call to the religious life in high school, and describe the metamorphosis of a charitable life into her true vocation: to serve the poor as Jesus demonstrated.
A self-described “late bloomer,” Sister Prejean said, “It doesn’t matter when we wake up. When we do — we can act.”
She is often asked why she focuses on the death penalty when the crimes committed by the offenders are so heinous. “Everyone is worth more than the worst thing they’ve ever done,” she stated.
Her heroes are the families of victims who do not seek retribution, but rather forgiveness, despite the life-changing and violent acts that have happened to their loved ones.
At age 18, Sister Prejean joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille (now called the Congregation of St. Joseph). Nearly five decades later, her favorite respite is above the clouds some 30,000 to 40,000 feet in the air where she can pray, read and continue her writing in an anonymous airplane nook. From airport to airport, it’s an untethered time for this natural storyteller, who at age 73, has no plans to slow down.
“Being alive is such a great gift,” she shared.
This article ran in the December 2011 issue of The Southern Cross, reprinted here by permission.
Copyright 2012 Colleen McNatt
But Catholic countries without the death penalty lead the world in high murder rates. Catholicism constantly talks theology because talking current events refutes this position of theirs. Go to wiki….intentional homocides by country. There you will find the very worst two countries as both Catholic and having no death penalty. I’ve added their Catholic per cent population according to wiki elsewhere:
El Salvador #1 worst murder rate on earth 79% Catholic no death penalty
Honduras #2. worst ” ” 97%.Catholic no dp
Venezuela.# 4 worst ” ” 96%. ” no dp
Colombia. #7.worst ” ” 90%. ” no dp
Brazil. #19.worst. ”. ” 73%. ” no dp
Dominican Republic #20.worst “. ” 95%. ” no dp
Bill: Do you think Catholics cause high murder rates? Or countries without the death penalty cause high murder rates?
– If Catholics, then I might note that numerous countries with high %’s of Catholics have low murder rates.
– If you think the lack of death penalty is the issue, then I’d recommend you look at the entire continent of Europe in your Wikipedia article. Almost none of those countries have a death penalty, yet they have lower murder rates than the the U.S. has.
It is much more likely that governmental oppression and instability is the uniting factor in the countries listed on Wikipedia.
Robert
Europe does not have an internal deprived class even though Spain and Portugal caused that situation initially in Latin America with an initial license from Pope Nicholas V in Romanus Pontifex…mid 4th paragraph:
” We [therefore] weighing all and singular the premises with due meditation, and noting that since we had formerly by other letters of ours granted among other things free and ample faculty to the aforesaid King Alfonso — to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit…”
Three suceeding Popes in the late 15th century reconfirmed this permission to enslave and despoil.
RP had a caveat that no future authority could rescind it. Pope Paul III tried in 1537 but he showed weakness by withdrawing ex communication as punishment for enslavement under the pressure of the
Spanish crown. RP was addressed to Portugal but its permissions were repeated for Spain by the Borgia Pope. In short the crime mess that is northern Latin America began with Pope Nicholas V while later history just confirmed the initial transfer of the best land to conquistador families. The deprived classes became e.g. the MS13 gang inter alia that plague Honduras after the US deported scores of them as illegals.
Europe caused problems that she left in the Americas. Her own countries have no internal post slavery classes….hence less murder violence. But three Catholic countries now lead the world in cocaine trafficing….Peru,Columbia, and Bolivia not in every sense because they are Catholic but because they are lenient and descended from the original inequality caused by the late 15th century Popes which was half heartedly fought by later Popes who could have interdicted Spain and Portugal for slavery etc but needed them as friendly.
What to do? Obey scripture….the two that John Paul would not quote in his death penalty paragraphs of Evangelium Vitae….Genesis 9:5-6 and Romans 13:4 it’s new testament echo. The Genesis passage minus its death penalty mandate is actually cited at least 4 times in EV which means John Paul saw the death penalty verse and effectively edited it out if sight each time he took the fragments he liked.
We know from God killing Ananias and wife in Acts 5, that quickly….quickly done executions deter (the US has none that are quickly done). Acts 5:5 reads….”the whole community took fear”. You’ll notice God’s death penalties to the Jews only in Leviticus and Deuteronomy are carried out fast and without trial with the witnesses stoning first. That has no relevance as process but it does have relevance as to the need for quickness…..where there is certainty. Some murder cases in modern times are aggregate circumstantial…..but others either have confessions or are on video tape or common knowledge as when Gabby Giffords was shot along with others by a man known to a whole crowd. Innocence is not even a question in the second group.
century Popes