- Helen Prejean
Infobox Person
name=Helen Prejean
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birth_date = birth date and age|1939|04|21
birth_place=Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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nationality=United States
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known_for=opposition tocapital punishment
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religion=Roman Catholic
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footnotes=Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ (b.
April 21 ,1939 ,Baton Rouge, Louisiana ) is a Roman Catholicnun , one of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, who has become a leading American advocate for the abolition of thedeath penalty .Her efforts began in New Orleans,
Louisiana , in1981 , through a correspondence she maintained with a convicted murderer,Elmo Patrick Sonnier , who was sentenced to death by electrocution. She visited Sonnier in prison and agreed to be his spiritual adviser in the months leading up to his death. The experience gave Prejean greater insight into the process involved in executions and she began speaking out againstcapital punishment . At the same time, she also founded Survive, an organization devoted to providing counselling to the families of victims of violence.Prejean has since ministered to many other inmates on death row and witnessed several more executions. She served as National Chairperson of the
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from1993 to1995 .An autobiographical account of her relationship with Sonnier and other inmates on
death row served as the basis for the feature film and opera "Dead Man Walking ". In the film, she was portrayed bySusan Sarandon . (Although Prejean herself was uncredited, she made a minor cameo as a woman in a candlelight vigil scene outsideLouisiana State Penitentiary [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112818/trivia Trivia for Dead Man Walking] ] )In addition to Sonnier, the account is also based on the inmate
Robert Lee Willie who, with his friend Joseph Jesse Vaccaro, raped and killed 18-year-oldFaith Hathaway May 28 ,1980 , eight days later kidnapping a Madisonville couple from a wooded lovers' lane and driving them toAlabama . They raped the 16-year-old girl, Debbie Morris (née Cuevas), who would later become the author of her book "Forgiving the Dead Man Walking" [ [http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0310231876?showViewpoints=1 Forgiving the Dead Man Walking: Only One Woman Can Tell the Entire Story] ] and then stabbed and shot her boyfriend, 20-year-oldMark Brewster , leaving him tied to a tree paralyzed from the waist down. [. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/angel/reporternote.html LOUISIANA: A Murder, a Movie AND a Wink] ]Prejean's second book, "" was published in
December 2004 . In it, she tells the story of two men,Dobie Gillis Williams andJoseph O'Dell , whom she accompanied to their executions. She believes that both of these men were innocent. The book also examines the recent history of death penalty decisions by theSupreme Court of the United States and looks at the track record ofGeorge W. Bush asGovernor of Texas .In
1998 Prejean was awarded thePacem in Terris Award . It was named after a1963 encyclical letter byPope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. "Pacem in Terris " isLatin for "Peace on Earth."Prejean now bases her work at the Death Penalty Discourse Network in New Orleans and spends her time giving talks across the
United States and around the world. She is also a pro-life activist : "The pope says we should be unconditionally pro-life; against abortion, against euthanasia, against suicide and (that means also) against the death penalty." This view is commonly called theConsistent Life Ethic .Awards and Recognition
*
2008 : World Methodist Peace Award
*2005 : Peace Prize of the City ofYpres
*1998 :Pacem in Terris Award
*1996 :Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award External links
* [http://www.prejean.org/ Official site]
* [http://www.deathpenaltydiscourse.org/ Death Penalty Discourse Network]
* [http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/03/aug/17/14.html Conversation with Sr Helen Prejean]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/angel/articles/tindex.html Newspaper accounts of the crimes and executions of Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie.]
* [http://gaelicstarover.blogspot.com/2006/08/activist-trap-of-discriminating-tastes.html "The National Review" and Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ]
* [http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Apr1996/feature1.asp Sister Helen Prejean: The Real Woman Behind "Dead Man Walking" (from AmericanCatholic.org, April 1996)]
* [http://salt.claretianpubs.org/issues/deathp/prejean.html "Would Jesus pull the switch?" by Helen Prejean]References
Persondata
NAME = Prejean, Helen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Prejean, Sister Helen; Sr. Helen
SHORT DESCRIPTION = advocate for the abolition of the death penalty
DATE OF BIRTH =April 21 ,1939
PLACE OF BIRTH =Baton Rouge
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =
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