'Prison angel' urges kindness and belonging

An 80-year-old nun who gave up her life as a Beverly Hills socialite to take care of prisoners in Tijuana, Mexico, spoke on the virtues of belonging and kindness last night at the Frist Campus Center.

Mother Antonia, whose real name is Mary Clarke, is a widowed divorcee who has made a prison cell her home for the past 30 years. Her life has inspired a biography called "The Prison Angel."

To a rapt audience of about 35 who gathered to hear her talk, Mother Antonia recounted the dramatic events of her life at the prison, including burying the unclaimed dead from Mexican prisons and reaching out to transsexual prostitutes. The lecture was sponsored by the Episcopal Church at Princeton and the Aquinas Institute.

Mother Antonia covered a range of other topics, from the importance of kindness to the injustice and tragedy of war.

The three ways to reach heaven, she said, are "being kind, being kind and being kind."

Mother Antonia encouraged everyone to support U.S. troops, rhetorically asking how many people visit the injured troops in the military hospitals. She also lamented the loveless prison systems, saying that society should place a prisoner in a place "where he can be a good person."

"Even animals aren't put behind bars, but people are," Mother Antonia said.

Telling the audience that everyone — including a prisoner — is a brother or sister in Christ, she said "it doesn't matter what the crime is."

In her one-and-a-half hour talk, Mother Antonia also discussed the importance of belonging. "It's a big thing," she said. "Everybody wants to belong and feel loved."

To illustrate this point, Mother Antonia recounted her outreaches to the transsexual prostitute community in Tijuana. Yelling over the noise at the transsexual bar, Mother Antonia offered prayer books and rosaries to each of the prostitutes, offering to pray for them. After receiving a warm welcome from the prostitutes, Mother Antonia said she met with them on Christmas and they prayed together.

"The longing for belonging is so strong that without it, you die inside," she said.

"I was so impressed by the way that [Mother Antonia] is a witness to Jesus' command that we love one another," Episcopal Chaplain Stephen White said in an email. "She lives a life of love and mercy for the poorest of the poor and the outcasts of society, even to the point of sharing their living conditions in a cell in a Mexican prison."

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"This life of unselfish service to others is what it really means to be a Christian in the fullest, most complete sense," White added. "We would like her story to challenge people in the Princeton community to think about the meaning of the choices they will make in their lives with regard to wealth and service to others."

Laura Johnson '09, who attended the talk, said she "was excited when [she] heard about the way [Mother Antonia] turned her life and managed to devote herself to something beyond herself."

"She wouldn't stop talking about the people who don't have a voice in society."