Dead Men (Still) Walking

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN, C.S.J., will once again speak before a Maryknoll gathering about her on-going crusade to abolish the death penalty in the United States. Expected to draw a larger than normal crowd, the talk will be held in the Fathers & Brothers main chapel on Sunday, October 4, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m.

Prejean first spoke at Maryknoll back in 1996. While much has changed in the United States since then, she points out the U.S. remains the only western democracy that still has capital punishment and one of only six countries in the world that executes prisoners for crimes committed before the age of 18. To date, 23 innocent persons have been put to death.

Her story was made into an Academy award-winning moving movie in 1995 starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

More than statistics and appeals to morality, what gives Prejean's words authority is the time she has spent ministering to the families of victims as well as to those of prisoners.

Part of the Maryknoll Speaker Series, the event is open to the public and free of charge.