NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Sister Helen Prejean could have been at the White House on Wednesday, welcoming the pope. Instead the Roman Catholic nun famous for writing “Dead Man Walking” chose to spend her day speaking to a group of Nashville college students about the death penalty.
Speaking at Belmont University, Prejean told a group of a couple hundred students how a chance encounter with someone who asked her to write to a Louisiana inmate led her to become one of the country’s leading death penalty opponents. And she urged the students to be willing to take the little steps that can lead to bigger things.
“When you see something that’s wrong, you’ve got to reach out and act,” she said. “And the quicker we can act out of our new consciousness, the freer we become. And when we don’t act, we become more paralyzed.”
Asked after the talk about Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S., Prejean said she was invited to attend Wednesday’s events. “But I was going to be one out of 15,000 people, and I already had a commitment to come here.”
Prejean said the gospel of Jesus was about justice – “the kind of gospel Pope Francis is bringing to the U.S. today.”