Valpo Hosts “Dead Man Walking” Author Sister Helen Prejean Jan. 13
The Valparaiso University Law School welcomes Sister Helen Prejean, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, for a lecture on Tuesday, Jan. 13, at 4 p.m. in Harre Union Ballrooms B and C.
During the lecture, “Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues,” Sister Helen will discuss her public education ministry and ongoing efforts to counsel death row inmates and their families, as well as her participation in the global campaign to seek a world-wide moratorium on the death penalty.
Sister Helen spent her first years with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet teaching religion to junior high school students. She then moved into the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans and began working at Hope House from 1981–1984.
During this time, she became the spiritual advisor of death row inmate Patrick Sonnier at Angola. Her experience inspired the book “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States,” which became a movie, an opera and a play for high schools and colleges.
Screenings of the movie “Dead Man Walking” will be held prior to the lecture:
- Wednesday, Jan. 7, 5 p.m. in Wesemann 155
- Thursday, Jan. 8 , 6:30 p.m. in Wesemann 160
- Sunday, Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m. in the Union Ballrooms
“Dead Man Walking” and Sister Helen’s second book, “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions,” will be available for purchase at the lecture. Proceeds benefit Sister Helen’s ministry.
There is no cost to attend the lecture. Visit valpo.edu/law/sister-helen-prejean-lecture to RSVP.
