Sister Helen Prejean

I wanted to share this exchange with a woman whose friend on death row has given up his appeals.

Dear Sister Helen,

I’m writing you, because I have a big problem with a friend of mine. He’s on Texas death row, and is a volunteer for execution.

I have great difficulty in accepting his choice, but his lawyer said everything is ok. At first, when I read about this, I thought he was trying to commit suicide; the whole thing sounds like a cry for help.

But, his lawyer, to whom I wrote, said for two years my friend has been trying to give up the appeals, and during all this time, the lawyer has been trying to change his mind. His lawyer says that there is nothing left to do, and the only thing I can do is continue to stay by his side, writing letters to make him more and more comfortable in meeting his death.

It’s the first time I have been in this situation, and I am really confused and divided. On the one hand I think I should respect his will, but on the other I’m not sure he is completely sane (even if the court says he is).

So, now it’s time I start to write him, but what? My heart says try to stop him, reason says follow him…

I know this is a big problem, but I really need help to find the answer…

Thank you in advance.

Stefania

And my response:

Dear Stefania,

It is very difficult to know what to do, and because your relationship is confined to letter writing, that restricts your influence quite a bit. It’s such a big, life-death decision…. Is it possible for you to visit face to face? If not, express your appreciation for his personal worth and thank him for the gift he has been in your life and assure him of your prayers.

Know that I am carrying you and him in my prayer.

Love, Sister Helen

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Amazing how much you learn about yourself when you go back and trace how you got to be a cogent, confident self.

Early on I realized I couldn’t make it as a celibate nun without a close friend. The first great gift of friendship in my life was Sister Christopher. I realized you have to work at friendship. It doesn’t just happen. Chris and I cultivated our friendship like a garden – weeding, planting, tilling the soil, and wasting time, giving hunks of time to being together.

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Annie, the monastery dog, is moping around and is scared to go outside. Dayton, Wyoming has been getting a lot of thunderstorms rolling over the Big Horn Mountain Range right at our back door. It’s the thunder that gets to her, makes her cower inside Sister Josetta’s room.

Because of the long-standing drought in the area, everyone else here in Wyoming welcomes the rain that the storms bring. The pastures are green, green, and the Little Tongue River that runs through the monastery grounds is swollen and roaring.

Near it is a screened-in gazebo where I go to write, and Annie usually runs ahead to show me the way.  But not these days, not until the hot weather sets in and there’s no chance of these loud and scary storms. I try to explain to her that it’s the lightning she’s got to watch out for, not the thunder, but I can’t seem to get through to her. I can barely coax her across the yard for a weenie treat, that’s how scared she is, because she just loves weenies (so do I).

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I wanted to share with you this letter from Nigel Baldwin, in the UK:

Dear Sister Helen,

As a long standing admirer of your ministry to death row prisoners, I’m also aware of the help you give to victims of senseless violence through a group called ‘Survive’. In that vein, I’d like to ask your prayers for the family of Jimmy Mizen, a 16 year old boy from the South of London who died after a shard of glass was thrown at him in a baker’s shop last year to this day – a senseless act of violence.

Jimmy’s assailant, Jake Fahri aged 19 was jailed for a minimum term of 14 years a month ago. In my newspaper today, Jimmy’s parents Margaret and Barry Mizen were quoted as saying that they wouldn’t want the death penalty for Jake Fahri, as that would only plunge his family into grief too. Margaret and Barry (both Catholics as their son was) have set up a memorial for their son, whose Website address is http://www.jimmymizen.org, dedicated to non-violence and peace.

Margaret and Barry are on a long hard road in coming to terms with their loss. Of your goodness please join your prayers, with mine, for them.

Thank you very much,

Nigel Baldwin

I grieve for Jimmy’s family. I honor them, too. Turning such a terrible experience into something inspirational, as Margaret and Barry Mizen are doing, is an extraordinary act of courage and love.

I know they can do with your prayers and thoughts. I also encourage you to visit the Jimmy Mizen Foundation; its mission, to “promote the good in young people”, is a wonderful tribute to their beloved son.

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I had the pleasure of speaking at commencement at the University of St Francis in Fort Wayne last week. I thought I’d share with you an article about my talk written by Becky Manley for The Journal Gazette.

Search inner self for life’s passion

‘Dead Man Walking’ author advocates Saint Francis grads focus lives on love

During quiet meditation, when distractions are pushed away, a person can look within to find the fire of a guiding passion, then use it to reach out to others and spread that fire exponentially.

That was the message delivered by Sister Helen Prejean, 70, of New Orleans, during the University of Saint Francis commencement address Saturday.

Prejean, a vocal death penalty opponent who penned “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States” based on her experience with Louisiana death row inmate Patrick Sonnier, talked about finding the inner passion to about 490 graduating students.

Prejean, who has accompanied six men to their executions, shared three stories – about Mahatma Ghandi, Susan Sarandon and herself – to illustrate how people can find their guiding passion, or inner fire.

After talking about Ghandi’s difficult start as a lawyer, Prejean explained how Susan Sarandon read “Dead Man Walking” and became so consumed with turning it into a movie she pestered her longtime companion, Tim Robbins, until he read the book.

Sarandon contacted Prejean and told her she thought the book should be made into a film, saying it would bring deeper discourse about the death penalty in the U.S.

Despite lacking the usual components of Hollywood storytelling such as romance, the movie became an award-winning hit. Prejean talked about the vastness of the worldwide Academy Awards audience who saw Sarandon receive her Oscar, saying that’s how something that starts from within can grow into a fire that spreads beyond you.

“It has legs and it walks and it goes past you but you’re part of it,” Prejean said.

Finally, Prejean talked about her own story and how she at first didn’t understand the connection between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the poor.

While the desperate plight of the inner-city poor gained much attention after about 100,000 people were stranded in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Prejean said there’s more than one way to drown in the inner city – and that the other way is poverty.

Death row is peopled with the poor who can’t afford a good defense. Many in the U.S. are conflicted when it comes to the punishment for heinous crimes, thinking somebody ought to pay the ultimate penalty, Prejean said.

Those thoughts led to a surprising moment for Prejean the first time she met Sonnier, two years before she watched him executed in the electric chair.

“I was shocked at how human his face was,” Prejean said, adding that she thought whatever this man has done, he is more than his worst deed.

“The Gospel of Jesus is so countercultural to our culture,” Prejean said, saying we should forgive – which is different from condoning – the crime.

“Would Jesus pull the switch? Would he really pull the switch for you?” Prejean asked.

After talking about how her experiences with death row inmates has led to ongoing discussion about the death penalty, Prejean again urged graduates to meditate and find their passion so they can catch on fire, and that fire is named “love,” Prejean said.

“That is my prayer for you. That is my wish for you.”

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