STUDENTS REACT TO SISTER HELEN PREJEAN, AUTHOR OF `DEAD MAN WALKING,' DURING VISIT

Feeling compassion for a convicted criminal isn't the easiest task, but it's a necessary one for Christians -- particularly when they are talking about a criminal condemned to die.

A group of Catholic students from Southeast Missouri State University were able to connect a face with the anti-death penalty message. The issue is a fierce one, even divisive among Missouri's Catholics, who are split nearly 50-50.

Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking," spoke to a crowd of nearly 700 last week in a St. Louis church. A group from Cape Girardeau attended the event, sponsored by the Eastern Missouri Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Prejean, whose novel earned her a Nobel Prize nomination and spawned a movie of the same name, is known for her anti-death penalty campaign. She brought her message to Missouri, a state where the issue could have political overtones for the 2000 U.S. Senate race.

Gov. Mel Carnahan, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the Senate, recently commuted the death sentence of Darrell Mease. Mease had been slated for execution early this year, but a plea from Pope John Paul II helped prevent that. Originally, Mease had been slated to die during the pope's visit, but the execution was delayed.

Jennifer Ulrich listened to Prejean to hear her side of the story and to learn more about the death penalty issue.

The nun spoke openly about her ministry to prisoners on death row in Louisiana and how difficult the job is. She also said you can't draw a line or take each case individually, Ulrich said. "It doesn't make sense."

Killing another person as punishment for killing isn't logical, Ulrich said. Criminals who commit rape aren't rape, so logically speaking, killing a killer isn't sane.

Prejean also called for people to write or call the governor to protest the upcoming execution of Roy Roberts, slated to die next Wednesday.

"There are a lot of questions about Roberts' case and no court will hear it," she said.

Prejean called for an end to the death penalty, which she said discriminates against the poor and minorities.

"For society to be able to judge fairly, we have to weigh all life equally," she said. She was encouraged by Carnahan's decision to commute Mease's sentence after meeting with the pope.

"I just wish he'd pushed a little bit harder," she said. "For all death row inmates."

Some information for this story was contributed by the Associated Press.