1999 FROM MURDERER TO PRIEST
VOM MÖRDER ZUM PRIESTER
USA
30 min. tv documentary
author, director: Arnd Henze, Marcel Kolvenbach
WDR German public tv
Shot inside Sing Sing prison, following inmates studying theology to become ministers.
Established in 1982, the Sing Sing master’s degree is surely one of the most unusual theological education programs in the US. Bill Webber was president of New York Theological Seminary, 1969-1983, and he was the prophetic voice behind the master’s degree in professional studies at Sing Sing prison. He was also among the visionary founders of the East Harlem Protestant Parish. Each year up to 15 students who are incarcerated in New York State enroll in the NYTS accredited Master of Professional Studies degree offered inside Sing Sing. Filmed inside the Sing Sing prision in New York the document follows inmates – some sentenced to life for murder, like Big Lou – who attend a theological seminar to become a priest inside the US prison system. Others return to their neighborhoods, like East Harlem, to stop the cycle of violence, gangs and drugs.