Sister Helen Prejean has been invited over from the U.S. by the Hexham and Newcastle Catholic Diocese to talk about her inspirational life visiting prisoners on death row in America.

Sister Helen is being accompanied on her visit by Bud Welch, whose 23-year-old daughter was killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.



Bud publicly opposed the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the bombing suspect.

Although unsuccessful in stopping the execution, Bud continues his work and maintains a strong relationship with Timothy McVeigh's family.
Bud and Sister Helen will be speaking at the Rainton Meadows arena in Houghton on Saturday and Sunday.

Sister Helen claims Christians have "domesticated" Jesus and forgotten that he was often in the company of sinners.

She said: "Often we made him like a French poodle, with a rhinestone necklace and painted his toenails because it's all very comfortable and doesn't rock the boat.

"But Jesus was with the marginalised and the cast-offs and the people who had no voice."

Sister Helen also described how she sits with prisoners while they are given the lethal injection, and why she is so against the death penalty.

Her visit comes as John Allen Muhammad, the man behind the 2002 sniper attacks in and around Washington DC was executed on Wednesday, a decision Sister Helen condemned.

Inspiration for an Oscar-winning performance

Sister Helen has ministered to many inmates on death row and witnessed several executions.

She served as national chairperson of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1993 to 1995.



An autobiographical account of her work served as the basis for the feature film and opera Dead Man Walking. In the film, she was portrayed by Susan Sarandon, who won an Academy Award.

In 1998 she was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations.