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Sister Helen to Speak on Death Penalty
by Caitlin Daly
Walking to the execution (from the film)
Sister Helen Prejean
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Sister Helen Prejean, author and advocate for the abolition of capital punishment, will speak at Mars Hill College on Thursday, April 3.
The college will show Dead Man Walking, a film based upon Sister Helen's best-selling book of the same name, on Tuesday, March 4. A panel of defense lawyers and prosecutors will speak about the issue of capital punishment on Tuesday, March 25.
Sister Helen Prejean was born in New Orleans in 1939. She was just eighteen when took her vows as a Roman Catholic nun --a sister of the St. Joseph of Medaille order.
After dedicating her life to God and having earned a Masters degree in religious education, she found her calling in serving the poor. While working with the underprivileged of New Orleans, she began writing to a prisoner on death row by the name of Elmo Patrick Sonnier. Sonnier had been incarcerated and sentenced to death after being convicted of a double homicide.
Sister Helen began visiting Sonnier and other death row inmates, including Robert Lee Willie. She went there to spread the word of God, but she began to see the horrors of death row and realized her opposition to capital punishment.
After Sonnier's execution on April 5, 1984 and Willie's execution on December 28, 1984, Sister Helen began writing a book. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty, was the story of her experiences with Sonnier and Willie.
Her book spent 31 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List, and was nominated for numerous awards, including the 1993 Pulitzer Prize. Sister Helen's book was developed into a screenplay. Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn starred in the film, and Sarandon won an Academy Award for her role as Sister Helen.
As a strong advocate for the abolition of capital punishment, Sister Helen travels throughout the country educating people about the death penalty. She has been a part of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and is the founder of Survive. Survive is a group that gives guidance to prisoners on death row and families of murder victims.
The visit from Sister Helen is being arranged by Vice President Nina Pollard, who first heard her speak at the School of Social Work at Louisiana State University. Pollard later invited her to speak at William Jewell College and then at Peace College.
Pollard hopes that students will gain new understanding from Sister Helen's presentation, as well as from the movie and panel discussion. "I want them to begin to examine critically their own thinking about the death penalty--regardless of whether they are pro or con -- and to see the issue as complex and multifaceted."
Tuesday, March 7 - Dead Man Walking,
7 p.m. in the Harris Media Center
10 p.m. in the Timberline.
Tuesday, March 25 - Panel Discussion on death penalty
7 p.m. in Belk Auditorium
Thursday, April 3 - Sister Helen Prejean speaks
7 p.m. in Moore Auditorium
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