BY ERIKA ANDERSON

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--At the Catholic Social Services annual luncheon June 3, keynote speaker Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, gave an added perspective to the topic of “standing together to uphold human dignity and to bring hope to a culture of violence.”

Over 300 people from various churches and from the community, area businesses and anti-violence organizations attended the luncheon at the Georgia World Congress Center, emceed by WSB-TV’s Monica Kaufman.

Sister Prejean, whose book on capital punishment in America “Dead Man Walking” has brought her to international prominence, spoke on the culture of violence based on her experiences ministering to death row inmates.

Sister Prejean said that racism is the first issue involving the death penalty that needs to be confronted.

“When you go on death row in the United States today, to the over 3,000 people on death row...you find a disproportionate number of people of color,” Sister Prejean said. “But the main thing I’ve found is it depends on who gets killed...who’s the victim...and who’s outraged over their death and when are you going to seek the death penalty and when are you going to plea bargain and just let it go. When a person of color gets killed, how many times do you see the outrage in the D.A.’s office, ‘Yeah, we’re going after the death penalty.’”

Sister Prejean also challenged the use of the words “pro-life” unless they include all lives.

“I’ve noticed that a lot of people who say they’re pro-life--what it really boils down to is they’re pro-innocent life, but who’s going to be pro-guilty life,” she said. “The challenge of the message of Jesus...is about forgiveness and everyone is redeemable and that every human being is worth more than the worst thing we ever do in our lives.”

Sister Prejean said she believes the death penalty involves human rights that are too deep to be deprived even to the guilty.

“When you come to the death penalty, we’re dealing with human rights so deep that the government doesn’t give them to people for good behavior, and they can’t take them away for bad behavior and that is the right not to be tortured and not to be killed,” she said. “Those are the human rights involved in the death penalty.”

No matter by what means a person is executed, Sister Prejean said, there is torture involved.

“Conscious human beings have imaginations and die a thousand deaths before they die,” she said. “We can’t take the torture out of the death penalty because we can’t take consciousness out of human beings.”

Sister Prejean also spoke of the purpose of churches in society.

“The mission of churches is to build bridges that connect people across class lines, across color lines, across all kinds of lines and to bring people together,” she said.

In her own life, Sister Prejean said, it took her a long time to understand the connection between the Gospel and the poor, saying that she had always prayed for poor people, but had not been among them.

“When you look at the life of Jesus, who did he choose, who did he sit at table with? He was always crossing those lines and being with people who were the most hurting, the most marginated, the most thrown away people of society,” she said. “And I finally got it and there was this deep click. I began to go into the soup kitchens and the homeless shelters and to be among the people. And I had this feeling inside that part of me had come home. I was so grateful to be awake.”

Sister Prejean said that to end violence in American society people must take small steps one day at a time.

“God gives us a little pen light--not a great big search light, but a pen light, so that we can take one step at a time,” she said.

The most important thing people can do, the nun said, is to be present to each other.

“I have discovered a wonderful gift that may be the best gift we can give, and that’s presence--a listening, loving presence,” she said.

Sister Prejean’s talk was the highlight of the luncheon, which also featured awards to community organizations.

Action Americans Murder Must End Now (AAMMEN), Aid to the Children of Imprisoned Mothers, Georgia Justice Project, Justice for All and Mothers of Murdered Sons and Daughters (MOMS) were all recognized for their exemplary programs in bringing hope to a culture of violence.

Special awards were also given, including the Archbishop’s Cup Golf Classic Trophy to St. Andrew’s Church in Roswell.

John Silva was presented the Henry deGive Award by Pam Buckmaster, executive director of CSS, for his 10,000 hours volunteering for the immigration program at CSS.

“John is one of those rare individuals who is so committed to the work that he does, that he’s there often before the staff is there at the office,” she said. “He takes his work very seriously and has a real passion for his work in immigration.”

“We’re really proud of him,” Buckmaster continued. “We couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of this award. It is the highest award that Catholic Social Services presents to either a staff member or a volunteer.”

The Ben Landey Award for Outstanding Pro-Bono Service was also presented to the late Bob Bensing. Accepting this award for her husband, who died in an car accident in February, was Dr. Mary Schlagle, who said her husband was a living example of the Gospel.

“Bob lived the Gospel like few people I’ve ever known,” she said. “Thank you all for this great honor.”

Prior to and following the luncheon, booths from various anti-violence and community service groups were set up and representatives answered questions for luncheon participants.