Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, an internationally known activist and author, made her annual visit to DePaul's campus last week from her home in New Orleans for a series of open public lectures and classroom discussions. Sr. Helen participated April 21-27 in a number of speaking engagements, including a joint address with Barbara Crain Major, a community organizer, educator, author, activist and core anti-racism trainer. She also joined a panel with leaders from the Illinois Prison Project, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the Visiting Room Project and the Youth Empowerment Performance Project for a transformative conversation about criminalization, transformation, survival and resistance. Sr. Helen visited classes and, to close out the week, preached at Sunday-evening Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Parish and spoke to faculty and staff at a Lunch with Vincent gathering. Sr. Helen wrote the widely acclaimed book "Dead Man Walking" and is known for her work as an educator about the death penalty and a counselor for inmates on death row.
The Center to Advance Education for Adults hosts a conversation between award-winning authors, educators and activists Sr. Helen Prejean and Barbara Crain Major in the Lincoln Park Student Center. (Photo by Jeff Carrion / DePaul University)
Tatum Thomas, dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, makes remarks during the discussion between Sr. Helen Prejean and Barbara Crain Major. (Photo by Jeff Carrion / DePaul University)
Sr. Helen talks with faculty, staff and students during the Division of Mission and Ministry’s Lunch with Vincent event on the Lincoln Park Campus. (Photo by Jeff Carrion / DePaul University)
Sr. Helen is the author of the acclaimed book “Dead Man Walking”. She is best known for her ministry work with inmates on death row and her decades-long activism against the death penalty. (Photo by Jeff Carrion / DePaul University)
Sr. Helen speaks with students in Professor Scott Paeth's class "REL/PAX 252, Forgiveness and Reconciliation," in the Arts and Letters Building. Sr. Helen's book "Dead Man Walking" looked at justice, forgiveness and reconciliation in the context of the death penalty and America's prison system. (Photo by Jeff Carrion / DePaul University)
Sr. Helen preached to the congregation attending the Sunday-evening Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Parish. (Photo by Carrie Emge / DePaul University).
Sr. Helen Prejean has a long-standing partnership with DePaul. She donated her personal archives to the John T. Richardson Special Collections and Archives department in 2011. Included in the files are personal journals, notes from meetings, letters, speeches and other artifacts spanning 40 years of anti-death penalty work. She was awarded the prestigious Saint Vincent de Paul Award in September 2022. (Photo by Carrie Emge / DePaul University)
Sr. Helen speaks with students and signs copies of her book “Dead Man Walking” in the Lincoln Park Student Center. (Photo by Jeff Carrion / DePaul University)