Photograph by Frank Methe Jr.
Nobel nominee: Sister Helen Prejean
'Dead Man Walking' author speaks at Saratoga church
Death penalty will be topic
By Shari Kaplan
Best-selling author and two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sister Helen Prejean, who is best known for her controversial book on the death penalty, comes to Saratoga's Sacred Heart Church on Jan. 19 for a program titled "Dead Man Walking: The Journey."
Sr. Prejean, a lifelong Louisianian, belongs to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in religious education. In the early 1980s, she began working with inner-city residents and counseling Louisiana State Penitentiary's death-row inmates--some of whom she accompanied to their executions. She also counsels families of murder victims.
She later wrote Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the U.S., which spent 31 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and received a Pulitzer Prize nomination. The major motion picture based on her book, Dead Man Walking, starred Susan Sarandon as Sr. Prejean and Sean Penn as a death-row inmate.
At Sacred Heart Church, Sr. Prejean will share personal stories of her ministries, discuss the death penalty and answer questions. Although she belongs to the U.S. National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, she welcomes people of all opinions and beliefs.
She will appear with representatives of Kairos San Quentin, part of a non-denominational international Christian organization that arranges three-day retreats for prison inmates throughout the free world. Its goal is to help prisoners come to terms with their demons and learn about healing, self-esteem and spirituality. Interspersed through the evening will be uplifting songs by San Jose Opera members Barbara Divas and Adam Flowers, accompanied on the piano by Jerome Lenk.
Sponsored by the Sacred Heart Men's Club, Santa Clara University and Kairos San Quentin Prison Ministry, the evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with wine and hors d'oeuvres with Sr. Helen, followed by the 7:30 p.m. program. A post-program dessert, coffee and book-signing commences afterwards.
Tickets are $10 for the program only; $15 for the program plus the dessert and book-signing reception; or $25 for the wine and hors d'oeuvres reception, reserved seating at the event and the dessert reception. For more information, call 408.370.9030.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
