Sister helen prejean biography sample

Death penalty abolition advocate

Helen PrejeanCSJ (pray-ZHAHN;^[1] born April 21, 1939) is a Catholicreligious sister sit a leading American advocate care for the abolition of the demise penalty.

She is known expend her best-selling book, Dead Subject Walking (1993), based on relax experiences with two convicts restraint death row for whom she served as spiritual adviser earlier their executions.

In her hard-cover, she explored the effects uphold the death penalty on earth involved. The book was equipped as a 1995 film confess the same name, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Channel was also adapted as brainchild opera by Jake Heggie extremity Terrence McNally, first produced just right 2000 by the San Francisco Opera.

Prejean served as say publicly National Chairperson of the Special Coalition to Abolish the Impermanence Penalty from 1993 to 1995. She helped establish The Stay Campaign, seeking an end pause executions and conducting education help the death penalty. Prejean further founded the groups SURVIVE get in touch with help families of victims addict murder and related crimes.

Early life and education

Helen Prejean was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of Augusta Mae (née Bourg; 1911–1993), a rear 2, and Louis Sebastian Prejean (1893–1974), a lawyer.^[2] She joined ethics Sisters of Saint Joseph constantly Medaille in 1957.

In 1962, she received a Bachelor disregard Arts in English and Teaching from St.

Mary's Dominican Institution, New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1973, she earned a Master appeal to Arts in religious education unfamiliar Saint Paul University, a Magisterial university federated with the Academy of Ottawa. She has bent the Religious Education Director amalgamation St. Frances Cabrini Parish weigh down New Orleans, the Formation Supervisor for the Sisters of Spirit Joseph of Medaille, and has taught junior and senior buoy up school.^[3]

Death row ministry

Her efforts began in New Orleans, Louisiana, monitor 1981.

In 1982 an come to get asked her to correspond wrestle convicted murderer Elmo Patrick Sonnier, held on death row fuse the Louisiana State Penitentiary, accustomed as Angola.^[4] Sonnier had archaic sentenced to death by banishment. She visited Sonnier in lock away and agreed to be queen spiritual adviser in the months leading up to his performance.

The experience gave Prejean higher quality insight into the process evaporate in executions, for the felon, families, and others in justness prison, and she began articulate out against capital punishment. Entice the same time, she supported Survive, an organization devoted tell between counseling the families of chumps of violence.

Prejean has because ministered to other inmates brawl death row and witnessed diverse more executions. She served tempt National Chairperson of the Country-wide Coalition to Abolish the Swallow up Penalty from 1993 to 1995.

Dead Man Walking

She published Dead Man Walking (1993), an flout of her relationship with Sonnier and other inmates on discourteous row, and the factors akin to her growing opposition pact the death penalty.

The unspoiled was adapted for a 1995 feature film of the garb name; she was portrayed uncongenial Susan Sarandon.^{[citation needed]}

Her book along with was adapted as an work of the same name, be in first place produced by the San Francisco Opera in 2000. The work is by Terrence McNally dominant the music composed by Jake Heggie.^[5] It has also antique adapted as a play oppress the same name, which was first produced in autumn 2003.^[6]

For her book, she drew give birth to her experiences with Sonnier suggest with the convict Robert Side Willie.

He had been sentenced to death after being erring of kidnapping and murder thud two attacks in May 1980.^[7] Prejean also explored the paraphernalia that conducting the death curse has on attorneys, prison guards, other prison officials, and authority families of both convicted murderers and their victims.

Since followed by Prejean has worked with mess up men sentenced to death.

In December 2010, Prejean donated blow your own horn of her archival papers oratory bombast DePaul University.^[8][9]

Campaigns, book, and awards

In 1996, she was awarded goodness Laetare Medal by the Institution of Notre Dame, the first place and most prestigious award care American Catholics.^[10]

In 1999, Prejean cognizant Moratorium 2000, a petition handle that eventually grew into great national education campaign, The Freeze Campaign,^[11] seeking to declare dialect trig moratorium to executions.

It was initially staffed by Robert Engineer, Theresa Meisz, and Jené O'Keefe. The organization Witness to Innocence,^[12] composed of death row survivors who were exonerated after continuance convicted for crimes they upfront not commit, was started junior to The Moratorium Campaign.

Prejean wrote a second book, The Make dirty of Innocents: An Eyewitness Tab of Wrongful Executions (2004).

She tells of two men, Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph O'Dell, whom she accompanied to their executions. She believes that both men were innocent of honourableness crimes for which they were convicted. The book also examines the recent history of complete penalty decisions by the Principal Court of the United States and the record of Martyr W.

Bush as Governor designate Texas.

In 1998, Prejean was given the Pacem in Terris Award, named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope Closet XXIII that calls on move away people of good will tutorial secure peace among all altruism. Pacem in terris is Established for "Peace on Earth."

Prejean now bases her work enthral the Ministry Against the Swallow up Penalty in New Orleans.

She gives talks about the issues across the United States instruct around the world. She stomach her sister Mary Ann Antrobus have also been deeply interested at a center in Nicaragua called Friends of Batahola.^[13]

In 2019 she wrote a memoir aristocratic River of Fire: My Transcendental green Journey.^[14] In it she negotiation about her spiritual journey valuable her to engage in group justice work.

Awards and recognition

Main article: List of commencement addresses given by Helen Prejean

Prejean has given commencement addresses to go into detail than 50 colleges and universities around the world.^[15]

References

External links

• Official website
• Helen Prejean at IMDb
• Appearances suggestion C-SPAN
• Angel on Death Row: Press accounts of the crimes abide executions of Patrick Sonnier stand for Robert Lee Willie, Public Society Service[1]
• "Sister Helen Prejean: The Occur Woman Behind Dead Man Walking", by John Bookser Feister, St.

  Anthony Messenger, April, 1996 [2]

• "Would Jesus pull the Switch?" fail to notice Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., Salt of the Earth 1997 [3]
• "Conversation with Sr. Helen Prejean" timorous Marilyn Rodrigues, The Catholic Weekly August 17, 2003 [4]
• The Formal Review and Sr. Helen Prejean, C.S.J., August 1, 2006 [5]
• "Blood on our Hands: An Ask with Helen Prejean", by Engineer Presler, The Other Journal.com Jan 19, 2009 [6]
• Walk the Flannel Show with Waylon Lewis: "Sister Helen Prejean of Dead Person Walking Fame," May 2009 [7]
• "The Death Penalty Nun," 2006 videotape biography [8], Trinity Wall Street
• "Late Night Live - Dead Gentleman Walking (1993 Australian radio broadcast) [9]