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The fascinating, moving story of a friendship with an inmate on
death row It was a clash of race, privilege, and circumstance when
Alan Robertson first signed up through a church program to visit
Cecil Johnson on Death Row, to offer friendship and compassion.
Alan's wife Suzanne had no intention of being involved, but slowly,
through phone calls and letters, she began to empathize and
understand him. That Cecil and Suzanne eventually became such close
friends-a white middle-class woman and a Black man who grew up
devoid of advantage-is a testament to perseverance, forgiveness,
and love, but also to the notion that differences don't have to be
barriers. This book recounts a fifteen-year friendship and how
trust and compassion were forged despite the difficult
circumstances, and how Cecil ended up ministering more to Suzanne's
family than they did to him. The story details how Cecil maintained
inexplicable joy and hope despite the tragic events of his life and
how Suzanne, Alan, and their two daughters opened their hearts to a
man convicted of murder. Cecil Johnson was executed Dec. 2, 2009.
The Scandal of White Complicity and U.S. Hyper-incarceration is a
groundbreaking exploration of the moral role of white people in the
disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans and Latinos in
the United States. Alex Mikulich, Laurie Cassidy, and Margaret
Pfeil are white Catholic theologians developing understanding of
how whiteness operates in the U.S. system of incarceration and
witnessing to a Christian nonviolent way for whites to subvert our
oppression of brothers and sisters of color.
The Scandal of White Complicity and US Hyper-incarceration is a
groundbreaking exploration of the moral role of white people in the
disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans and Latinos in
the United States.
In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana's Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier's death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. At the same time, she came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute him--men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing.
Out of that dreadful intimacy comes a profoundly moving spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment. Confronting both the plight of the condemned and the rage of the bereaved, the needs of a crime-ridden society and the Christian imperative of love, Dead Man Walking is an unprecedented look at the human consequences of the death penalty, a book that is both enlightening and devastating.
"If it's not facing 297 years in prison, it's not a problem."
--Richardson family motto The twenty-one years that kept Rob
separated from his wife, Fox, and their six sons was long enough.
As Rob survived two decades at America's bloodiest penitentiary and
Fox raised their sons solo, they never stopped fighting for Rob's
freedom and for their futures against the statistical odds. All the
while, it was love that carried them through. The Academy
Award-nominated documentary Time introduced audiences to Fox and
Rob, who riveted audiences with their relentless fight for each
other and justice, despite America's broken prison system. This
book tells the rest of their story. In alternating voices and
intimate detail, Fox and Rob reveal what the film does not--how a
person can cultivate the radical love needed to see them through
any hardship and how miracles can happen on the way. As they peel
back the layers of their unforgettable love story, you'll discover
the secrets of perseverance and the power of a resilience that is
founded on faith in a God who never gives up on us.
'Riveting ... Providing a window into the upheaval in the church
during the 1960s and 70s, Prejean's engrossing memoir also fleshes
out how she rose to be an influential voice within the church
before becoming a renowned proponent of abolishing the death
penalty. Informing and entertaining, Prejean's exceptional memoir
will be of special interest to social justice advocates. Publishers
Weekly In this revelatory, intimate memoir from the author of Dead
Man Walking, America's foremost leader in efforts to abolish the
death penalty shares the story of her growth as a spiritual leader,
speaks out about the challenges of the Catholic Church and shows
that joy and religion are not mutually exclusive. Sister Helen
Prejean's work as an activist nun, campaigning to educate Americans
about the inhumanity of the death penalty, is known to millions
worldwide. Less widely known is the evolution of her spiritual
journey from praying for God to solve the world's problems to
engaging full-tilt in working to transform societal injustices.
Sister Helen grew up in a well-off Baton Rouge family that still
employed black servants. She joined the Sisters of St Joseph at the
age of eighteen and was in her forties when she had an awakening
that her life's work was to immerse herself in the struggle of poor
people forced to live on the margins of society. In this honest and
fiercely open account, Sister Helen writes about the relationships
with friends, fellow nuns and mentors who have shaped her over the
years, as well as the close friendship with a priest that
challenged her vocation in the 'new territory of the heart'. The
final page of River of Fire ends with the opening page of Dead Man
Walking, when she was first invited to correspond with a man on
Louisiana's death row. River of Fire is a book for anyone
interested in journeys of faith and spirituality, doubt and belief
and 'catching on fire' to purpose and passion. Written in
accessible, luminous prose, it is a book about how to live a
spiritual life that is wide awake to the sufferings and creative
opportunities of our world.
Pilar Hogan Closkey and John Hogan have brought together the annual
Archbishop Oscar Romero Lectures (2001-2007) to consider the life
and death of Archbishop Romero and the daily struggles of the poor
in our world, especially in the city of Camden, New Jersey-one of
America's poorest cities. Romero's 'dangerous memory' provides the
background, while urban poverty and the option for the poor are the
foreground. Romero's commitment to the poor compels us to look at
ourselves, and the authors of each chapter remind us of Romero's
dangerous memory and his undying hope in the promised future. Taken
as a whole, the book reminds us of the tough questions behind the
real meaning of the 'option for the poor.' Can we as a faith
community and institution move beyond high-sounding slogans and
really opt for the poor? What are the costs? What are the risks?
Especially in these difficult times of war, terrorism, and scandal,
can we in the Church rebuild trust and be a sign of a future of
justice and peace announced by Jesus?
"Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death
Penalty" comprehensively explores the Catholic stance against
capital punishment in new and important ways. The broad perspective
of this book has been shaped in conversation with the Catholic
Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty, as well as
through the witness of family members of murder victims and the
spiritual advisors of condemned inmates.
The book offers the reader new insight into the debates about
capital punishment; provides revealing, and sometimes surprising,
information about methods of execution; and explores national and
international trends and movements related to the death penalty. It
also addresses how the death penalty has been intertwined with
racism, the high percentage of the mentally disabled on death row,
and how the death penalty disproportionately affects the poor.
The foundation for the church's position on the death penalty is
illuminated by discussion of the life and death of Jesus,
Scripture, the Mass, the "Catechism of the Catholic Church," and
the teachings of Pope John Paul II. Written for concerned Catholics
and other interested readers, the book contains contemporary
stories and examples, as well as discussion questions to engage
groups in exploring complex issues.
Foreword by Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking.
Gripping account of one man?'s spiritual transformation while in
solitary confinement.
Clayton Fountain was thought by most to be beyond all hope of
redemption. Serving several life sentences for five violent murders
(four of them committed while behind bars), he was condemned to
live out his days in solitary confinement, entombed in a cell of
concrete and steel built specifically for him at the U.S.
Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. Yet even this ruthless murderer
was not beyond the limits of divine mercy. Although he never again
emerged from his cell, Fountain undertook a profound spiritual
journey that led to a genuine religious conversion and his decision
to become a hermit and a brother in the Trappist Order. Now, eight
years after his untimely death, W. Paul Jones, who served for six
years as Fountain?'s spiritual advisor, shares his inspiring story.
Pilar Hogan Closkey and John Hogan have brought together the annual
Archbishop Oscar Romero Lectures (2001-2007) to consider the life
and death of Archbishop Romero and the daily struggles of the poor
in our world, especially in the city of Camden, New Jersey-one of
America's poorest cities. Romero's 'dangerous memory' provides the
background, while urban poverty and the option for the poor are the
foreground. Romero's commitment to the poor compels us to look at
ourselves, and the authors of each chapter remind us of Romero's
dangerous memory and his undying hope in the promised future. Taken
as a whole, the book reminds us of the tough questions behind the
real meaning of the 'option for the poor.' Can we as a faith
community and institution move beyond high-sounding slogans and
really opt for the poor? What are the costs? What are the risks?
Especially in these difficult times of war, terrorism, and scandal,
can we in the Church rebuild trust and be a sign of a future of
justice and peace announced by Jesus?
The Scandal of White Complicity and US Hyper-incarceration is a
groundbreaking exploration of the moral role of white people in the
disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans and Latinos in
the United States.
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