Meeting Sister Helen Prejean

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Transcript

On May 30th, 2007, Sister Helen Prejean gave a lecture to several hundred of our students. Sister Helen is famous as the author of the book Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. She spoke of justice, mercy, and the death penalty, and she described the growth of her compassion and convictions with blunt clarity. For example, she said that when she first met a convicted killer face to face on Death Row,

I found myself in tremendous tension at the horror of the crime and trying to find the humanness of the person who had done this crime.

She spoke at length about the families of murder victims and about her failure to meet them at first. She said that families experience great isolation because people don't know what to do with their suffering.

Sister Helen quoted two fathers whose children had been murdered. One of them remained bitter even after he witnessed the execution of the convicted murderer. He said,

He died too quick. I hope he burns in Hell for all eternity.

The other father prayed to keep his integrity as a man of mercy. He said,

I don't experience forgiveness as weakness. They killed my son, but I'm not going to let them kill me.

Sister Helen said that societies have tried to solve social problems by violence, but violence, including the death penalty, only causes more suffering. She said,

We are family. We must not cut brothers and sisters out of the family. Forgiveness of enemies is the only way to peace.

As Sister Helen related her experiences, hundreds of young women sat in silence. I think many realized that they, too, could choose to face the hard realities of human suffering, justice, and mercy.

References and Resources

1. Helen Prejean, CSJ. Official Web site.
2. Prejean, Helen. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. Random House, 1993; Vintage, 1994.
3. Prejean, Helen. The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions. Random House, 2004; Vintage Reprint Edition, 2006.
4. Sister Helen Prejean. Web log.
5. Wikipedia: Helen Prejean. General information and links.