Sister Helen Prejean to Speak at St. Benedict Center Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010 Location: St. Benedict Center in Schuyler, NE DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM HERE!
Internationally-known anti-death penalty activist and best-selling author, Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, will present a one-day retreat entitled "Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues". This event will take place at St. Benedict Center, four miles north of Schuyler. During this retreat, Sister Helen, a native of Louisiana and a Southern storyteller, brings you on a journey and shares her experiences with her death penalty ministry.
“Justice is a constitutive part of the Gospel. It’s not extra. It’s not what you’re going to do AFTER charity. It’s constitutive,” Sister Helen said. In 1981, she moved to a housing project in St. Thomas, Louisiana, with the purpose of helping the poor living in the area. A year later, Sister Helen was asked to become a pen pal of Elmo Patrick Sonnier, a death row inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. She became more than a pen pal to Mr. Sonnier as she signed on as his spiritual advisor and made personal visits to the prison. This first contact awakened her to the fallibilities and the immoral nature of the death penalty system in the United States.
Sister Helen is the author of the New York Times best-seller, Dead Man Walking (1993), which has received numerous honors, including a number one spot on the New York Times Bestseller List for 31 weeks. It was the inspiration for the movie of the same name. Sr. Helen is a religious educator, champion of the poor—and part-time comedian! She also authored Death of Innocents: Wrongful Executions (2004).
The retreat runs from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The program fee is $30. Lunch is available at the Center (contact them directly for details), and there will be a special free showing on the big screen of the film version of Dead Man Walking on Friday, October 22, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. A limited number of guest rooms are available at Center for the weekend. For more information call St. Benedict Center 402-352-8819. You can also download the registration form by clicking here!