Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, is known worldwide for starting a dialogue on the death penalty. After witnessing the electrocution of a condemned man in a Louisiana prison in 1984, Prejean wrote the bestselling Dead Man Walking and set out, through storytelling, to bring citizens close to the hard realities of government killings. Her mission has taken her to every U.S. state and to the Vatican, where her personal entreaties to two popes helped to shape Catholic opposition to the death penalty. When not on the road, this lifelong Louisianan, loves to share Cajun jokes, eat Southern cooking, play spirited card games, and write, exploring her fascination with the Divine spark she believes is in everyone: to seek truth, love ardently, and meet, head on, the suffering world.
“Compelling and down-to-earth, River of Fire is a deeply
authentic memoir of faith in action. We need Sister Helen’s
courageous and committed example of how to live fueled by a faith
that does separate us from each other, but throws us wholeheartedly
into the complicated, messy, and often tragic elements of
humanity.”—Kate Hennessy, author of Dorothy Day: The World Will Be
Saved by Beauty
“Sister Prejean’s radical openness and bracing honesty about her
own faith journey is as refreshing and compelling as it is
demanding and questioning. If you’ve ever wondered what ‘faith’
asks of you, you must read this book. It will turn your world
upside down as you witness the conversion of a pious, sheltered nun
into a fiery, faithful freedom fighter for the poor and the
marginal. It set my own heart on fire, as I followed her quest
to set the heart of the world aflame with passion for
justice.”—Serene Jones, author of Call It Grace: Finding
Meaning in a Fractured World
“Sister Helen Prejean is one of the great moral leaders of our
time. Her superb new memoir, River of Fire, is the inviting and
inspiring story of her early days as a Catholic sister. A born
storyteller, Sister Helen leads you, with her fierce intelligence
and lively wit, from her entrance into a novitiate that still
practiced the traditional ways of spiritual formation, to the
volcanic changes wrought by the Second Vatican Council, to the
initial stirrings of understanding what ‘social justice’ meant in
action. River of Fire is a book to read and treasure, and Sister
Helen’s is a life to celebrate and honor.”—James Martin, SJ, author
of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything
“Helen Prejean’s account of her journey to ‘get Jesus right’ is
rich in warm insights, tenderly human, and a full account of life
in the American Church during the last sixty years. She is a beacon
of authenticity and fidelity to the margins.”—Gregory Boyle,
founder, Homeboy Industries
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