River of Fire
On Becoming an Activist
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4.6 • 14 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“River of Fire is Sister Helen’s story leading up to her acclaimed book Dead Man Walking—it is thought-provoking, informative, and inspiring. Read it and it will set your heart ablaze!”—Mark Shriver, author of Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis
The nation’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.
Sister Helen writes about the relationships with friends, fellow nuns, and mentors who have shaped her over the years. In this honest and fiercely open account, she writes about her close friendship with a priest, intent on marrying her, 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. It is a book, written in accessible, luminous prose, about how to live a spiritual life that is wide awake to the sufferings and creative opportunities of our world.
“Prejean chronicles the compelling, sometimes-difficult journey to the heart of her soul and faith with wit, honesty, and intelligence. A refreshingly intimate memoir of a life in faith.”—Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This riveting memoir from Prejean (The Death of Innocents) describes her life as a nun, starting with her entrance into a convent in 1957 at 18 years old and ending in 1982 when she began her work with the Louisiana death row inmate that would form the foundation of her bestselling Dead Man Walking. Born in Baton Rouge, La., Prejean joined the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille after high school and entered a world of draconian rules: novitiate sisters were allowed no contact with family, received only heavily censored mail, and their lives were governed by strict instructions, including how to properly lay in a sickbed. This all changed in 1965 after the reforms of Vatican II, a watershed moment in the history of the Catholic Church that Prejean embraces as having a restorative influence on the church. Throughout, she persuasively shows why some choose the convent life ("I need the silence it offers, freed from the empty chatter and trivial conversations... I need the time to be in the company of other spiritual seekers") and describes her spiritual transformation toward political activism. 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 Catholics and social justice advocates.
