Internationally known author and counselor to death row inmates, Sr. Helen Prejean, C.S.J., will visit Wheeling Jesuit University this September for a public lecture.
Prejean, author of the New York Times best seller “Dead Man Walking,” will present an evening lecture at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 24 in Troy Theater. The event will be open to the public and will be followed by a book signing.
Prejean was born on April 21, 1939, in Baton Rouge, La. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in 1957 (now know as the Congregation of St. Joseph) and received a Bachelor or Arts in English and Education from St. Mary’s Dominican College, New Orleans in 1962. In 1973, she earned an M.A. in Religious Education from St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada. She has been the religious education director at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans, the formation director for her religious community, and has taught junior and senior high school students.
Prejean began her prison ministry in 1981 when she dedicated her life to the poor of New Orleans. While living in the St. Thomas housing project, she became pen pals with Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers, sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana’s Angola State Prison.
Upon Sonnier’s request, she repeatedly visited him as his spiritual advisor. In doing so, her eyes were opened to the Louisiana execution process and she turned her experiences into a book that not only made the 1994 American Library Associates Notable Book List, it was nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer Prize. “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States” was number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for 31 weeks. It also was an international best seller and has been translated into 10 different languages.
In January 1996, the book was developed into a major motion picture starring Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen and Sean Penn as a death row inmate. Produced by Polygram Pictures, the film was directed and written by Tim Robbins. The movie received four Oscar nominations including Tim Robbins for Best Director, Sean Penn for Best Actor, Susan Sarandon for Best Actress, and Bruce Springsteen’s “Dead Man Walking” for Best Song. Susan Sarandon won the award for Best Actress.
The book was the basis for a new opera, premiered by the San Francisco Opera in October 2000 and written by Terrance McNally, with music composed by Jake Heggie.
Fifteen years after beginning her crusade, the Roman Catholic sister has witnessed five executions in Louisiana and today educates the public about the death penalty by lecturing, organizing and writing. As the founder of “Survive,” a victim’s advocacy group in New Orleans, she continues to counsel not only inmates on death row, but the families of murder victims, as well.
Prejean’s second book, “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions,” was published in December 2004.
Prejean also will present a public lecture at Mount St. Joseph, at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 25. It will be held in the chapel of Mount St. Joseph and be followed by a reception and book signing.
A global leader in academic excellence, undergraduate research and service learning, Wheeling Jesuit University is ranked in the top 10 percent of the nation’s colleges by Forbes Magazine. One of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States, Wheeling Jesuit has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a top university for the past 15 years.
The University’s 20 varsity sports include 19 men’s and women’s NCAA Division II athletic teams and its USA Rugby Program. Jesuit teams have won 63 conference championships and boast 45-plus Academic All-Americans.
The campus is home to the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center, the Erma Ora Byrd Center for Educational Technologies, the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future, a Challenger Learning Center and the Clifford M. Lewis Appalachian Institute. For complete information, please visit www.wju.edu or call 1-800-624-6992.
