Oct. 19, 2009 issue
Nun preaches justice without revenge
‘Dead Man Walking’ activist finds fertile soil for her message in peace churches
By Laurie Oswald Robinson For Mennonite Weekly ReviewPage:
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MOUNDRIDGE, Kan. — For many years, Sister Helen Prejean has trod the death-row journey as a spiritual director to inmates facing execution.
‘What is justice?’ — Sister Helen Prejean speaks at Eden Mennonite Church near Moundridge, Kan. — Photo by Laurie Oswald Robinson
Mennonites have walked with her in seeking to abolish the death penalty, though most have done it from afar.
That changed for some Mennonites Sept. 20, when they met her personally.
Prejean, whose book Dead Man Walking became an Academy Award-winning movie in 1995, spoke at Eden Mennonite Church.
Prejean, a Catholic sister who lives in New Orleans, travels the country speaking out against capital punishment. She visited Eden after Jeff Koller, chair of the congregation’s peace committee, invited her.
Koller, his wife, Becky, and nine others from Eden met Prejean in New Orleans while doing post-Hurricane Katrina work with Mennonite Disaster Service. That connection and other contacts with Mennonites working in restorative justice prepared Prejean to find fertile soil for her message.
“My link with Mennonites has been very positive,” she said in an interview. “I knew not all Mennonites are completely on board with abolishing the death penalty. But the soil has been tilled by the long tradition of working for peace and justice and by the quality and nature of your communities.”
Koller, who grew up in a militaristic family but joined Eden 35 years ago and became a pacifist, is drawn to Prejean’s perspective.
A couple of tragic events had prompted him to ponder in new ways what it means for Christians to seek justice in light of Christ’s message of peace.
“Several years ago, the Carr brothers committed brutal murders during a cold winter night in Wichita,” he said of a quadruple homicide that shocked Kansans on Dec. 14, 2000. “And one of our families in the church lost a daughter because of a drunken driver… .
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