Hundreds of laypeople, opera fans, and religious sisters gathered at St. Paul the Apostle near Columbus Circle in Manhattan to hear about the ongoing work of Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, whose efforts to bring attention to and abolish capital punishment inspired a book, an award-winning film, and an opera about to make its Metropolitan Opera debut.

The event was presented by the Fordham University Center on Religion and Culture. Fordham University President Tania Tetlow introduced the evening’s panelists.

 

Joining Sister Prejean was Jake Heggie, who wrote the opera’s score; Joyce DiDonato, the multi-Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano who portrays Prejean; and moderator David Gibson, the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture’s director.

 

Prejean, 84, said she had two conditions on which she would agree to an opera adaptation of her book, also called “Dead Man Walking,” first published in 1993, which has sold 800,000 copies to date. “As long as we maintain that it is a story of redemption and that it has a tune to hum,” she said. 

 

“What gets me is the pain of it all,” said DiDonato, who has played the role of Prejean numerous times in “Dead Man Walking” productions. She pointed to the pain not only experienced by fictionalized prisoner Matthew Poncelet, as he feels remorse for his crimes and as his execution approaches, but also of Poncelet’s mother, and of course, the families of his victims.

 

Since Prejean first wrote her book, the Church’s position on capital punishment has shifted. The Church had previously accepted the death penalty under certain conditions. However, in 2018, following statements by Pope Francis, the Catechism of the Catholic Church was updated to indicate that capital punishment was no longer acceptable under any circumstance. “2267… Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”

 

Actor and director Tim Robbins adapted Prejean’s book into the 1995 feature film of the same name, starring Susan Sarandon as Prejean and Sean Penn as a fictionalized prisoner, to whom Sarandon’s character acts as spiritual adviser. Sarandon won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Prejean.

 

Robbins adapted his film script for the stage, from which Jake Heggie and Terence McNally wrote their opera. It debuted in San Francisco in 2000 and has been produced 75 times since then both in the United States and internationally. The upcoming run at the Met is its first time being performed at that venue, from September 26 through October 21. Tickets are available here.

 

Sister Prejean will speak again on Monday, September 25, at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, and be joined by: Jamila Hodge, chief executive officer of Equal Justice USA; Father Zach Presutti, founder of Thrive For Life; and Kathryn Reklis, associate professor of Religion and Culture at Fordham University. That event begins at 7 pm. Tickets are available here.