Sister Helen Prejean, the nun portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking, will speak in Birmingham on March 31. Prejean, an anti-death penalty activist, endorses a philosophy called the Consistent Life Ethic that opposes the death penalty, abortion, assisted suicide, and “unjust” warfare.

Sometimes branded “the Mother Teresa of Death Row,” Prejean has written two books. One advocates abolishing the death penalty (Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States) and the other defends those executed whom Prejean believes were innocent (The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions). Prejean also counsels victims’ families even as she embraces the killers. Initially ambivalent about being involved in the film because women in her position had been frequently portrayed as “flying and singing nuns,” Prejean reportedly warned Dead Man Walking producer Tim Robbins, “Boy, you better get the nuns right in this! We haven’t had a good film about nuns since The Bells of St. Mary’s.“

Prejean will be featured at the Willimon Faith and Ethics Lecture at Birmingham-Southern College on March 31 at 4 p.m. Later that evening, Prejean will share her thoughts at 7 p.m. at Highlands United Methodist Church.