Category: News

Listen to the sermon preached by the Right Revd Vicentia Kgabe, Bishop of Lesotho, in Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday July 31.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba appeared with Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury to share reflections on dealing with cases of abuse in the Church at a Lambeth Conference session on Safe Church.

The recording below opens with the two archbishops being interviewed by Mandy Marshall, the Project Director for Gender Justice in the Anglican Communion Office.

Later in the session, Kim Barker, a facilitator from South Africa, led a reflection on Mark 5: 21-34, and the the Rt Revd Brian Marajh, Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman, spoke from his perspective as Liaison Bishop for the Safe and Inclusive Church Commission.

Go directly to their contributions at the following links:

Kim Barker – co-opted Facilitator – South Africa

Bishop Brian Marajh

Statement from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa 

Although there does not appear to be any equivalence between the actions of President Ramaphosa in keeping large amounts of cash on his farm and the crimes committed under the previous administration, the public is owed quick and clear answers on whether he kept foreign currency in contravention of Reserve Bank regulations, and whether tax has been paid on sales from his farm. There cannot be one law for the rich and well-connected, and another for the rest of us.

While the disgraceful scenes in Parliament yesterday are to be condemned in the strongest of terms, they illustrate how transparently and openly leaders of Government need to behave if they are to avoid opportunistic attacks on their leadership which damage the country and its image in the world.

This statement is issued by the Office of Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, with his approval but in his absence on sabbatical.

Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, delivered the following homily at the funeral of South African economist, activist and campaigner against poverty, Francis Wilson, in St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, on May 2. Professor Wilson worshipped at the Cathedral, represented ACSA at a World Council of Churches assembly in Uppsala and also worked with the SACC. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba presided at the Requiem Mass.

1 John 4:7: ^“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”

Today we acknowledge with much sadness, the grief that Nomthunzi, David, Jessie, Tanya, Tim and their spouses are going through at the departure of the much-loved husband, father and brother Francis.

But dear friends, this morning we mourn not, but we celebrate the incredible faithfulness of Francis’ life, as the life of a son born to parents who interpreted their own life purpose in the fulfilment of the Great Commandment in John’s Gospel:

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Like Godfrey and Monica Wilson, and like David and Jessie Hunter before them, Francis made love the foundation of his life purpose; for “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” And so it is, that on his and Tim’s father Godfrey’s grave is the inscription that we use for our reflection in celebrating this family heritage – “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God”, reads the epitaph on Godfrey Wilson’s grave. It is the latter part of verse 7 that in its fulness says:

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”

This text comes from the first of the three epistles that carry the name of John, this first one is the one considered most as associated with the Apostle John, the presumed writer of the 4^th gospel. Some, however, suggest that the three letters with the name of John were actually one body of epistle, and not three.

Whatever the debates of the scholars might be, there is no question that this specific message that the Wilsons adopted for the memorialisation of Godfrey Wilson, saying, “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God”, is directly related to the Great Commandment as given in the 4^th gospel to love one another, and thereby be identifiable as a disciple of Christ. It is this, that became the heritage that Francis Wilson represents.

We celebrate Francis Wilson of Hunterstoun Hogsback, by honouring the principle of love, through which Francis, his parents and grandparents defined their relationship with God, as a loving relationship with others.

His mother Monica is said to have written to her husband Godfrey with respect to her relationship with the people she interacted with in her Pondoland research, that the only times that one “lives” in the New Testament sense, is when the ‘relationship with God, or one’s neighbour is intensely felt’¹(Morrow 2016: Location 1344, Kindle version). This is the life principle of love. It is a direct application of faith in the message of today’s reading in 1 John, that “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” And living through him is to live the love ethic.

It is this love ethic, that stakes the claim to be born of God, that defined the work of Francis’ grandparents David and Jessie Hunter and it was the energy behind the commitment to carry the Christian Express news-magazine that David Hunter, as its long-time editor, renamed the South African Outlook in 1922.

In faithfulness to this heritage of love expressed in word and deed, Francis was for decades the editor of his grandfather’s Outlook magazine. And he passed on the responsibility to the South African Council of Churches. In turn, at the SACC, it went to Bishop Luke Pato and Thoko Mpumlwana as co-editors, and in that context, they were both reminiscing about the hand-over meeting they had with Francis, and specifically requested that I convey their condolences as successors to the good professor, on the Outlook task. At the time Professor Barney Pityana was Principal and Vice Chancellor of UNISA, and he facilitated that the Outlook be printed at UNISA Press.

Francis, in gratitude for my small contribution to Tanya’s preparation for confirmation in 1986, made me the gift of a very special book, a celebration of the 100 years of the Outlook magazine, 1870 – 1970, Outlook on a Century. In his inscription on the book, he described Tanya as the great granddaughter of David Hunter, as if to instruct me to remember someday to remind Tanya and her siblings of the Hunter – Wilson heritage. The book attests in at least two testimonies, to the Wilson heritage of the love ethic.

Monica Wilson writes in a piece on Lovedale, that “Love demands hard thinking and practical application”² (Wilson & Perrot 1973:12). The family way of life in all generations has been about thinking ways to apply love practically in the context of human living, be it through anthropology, education, filmmaking, philanthropy, health services or economic policy inputs. For everyone who loves is born of God and knows God; but, says Francis’ mother Monica, “Love demands hard thinking and practical application”.

In the same book, as editor Francis invokes the words of theologian Paul Tillich who in his book Love, Power, and Justice, says that love is “the drive towards the unity of the separated”³ (Wilson & Perrot 1973:1).

Time does not allow for us to recount how Francis has sought to live the idea of love as the “drive towards the unity of the separated”, both in the racial and class divides of South Africa.

One⁴ practical application of the “drive towards the unity of the separated” in South Africa’s racial divisions is to commit to learn and speak the language of the other, especially that of the oppressed and the less powerful. Monica Wilson was steeped into the Xhosa and Mpondo culture and languages with the ability to distinguish between them. She went to a majority black school at Lovedale and learned to respect the intellect of African fellow pupils.

That ability and commitment to genuinely “crossover” in the “drive towards the unity of the separated” became a key element of the Wilson love ethic. Francis, his wife Nomthunzi, and their children, with varying capabilities, all know that they have a responsibility to engage in isiXhosa; for, many of the people they interact with have already met them more than three quarter way into the dominant English language – indeed with little choice in the matter! What might it do for the love defined as the “drive towards the unity of the separated”, if every South African was to learn to speak a different African language from their own, from English to isiXhosa like the Wilsons; from isiXhosa to tshiVenda as Malusi should; etc. That is a South African challenge that the Wilsons pose for us all today as we bid farewell to our celebrated Francis?

When I first met Francis Wilson, it was precisely on his quest to activate this drive towards the unity of the separated. He was to visit our group of Black Consciousness proponents with Steve Biko at King Williamstown, some time in 1975. I believe he wanted to get to know Steve Biko and understand his place in the love drive towards the unity of the separated. In his typical unassuming manner, he presented himself and listened.

I do believe he was keen to gain an appreciation of how Black Consciousness located the significance of economic analysis in the self-drive for black emancipation. It was at the time that we were crafting our thinking around what we termed Black Communalism. David Russell had known Francis, and I sought to know more about him from David, who was happy to discuss him. He described him as an economist who sought to bridge the gap of economic opportunity between the whites and blacks in South Africa. A good description, but Francis was a lot more than that in his faithfulness to his mother’s dictum that “Love demands hard thinking and practical application”.

• His number crunching of racial disparities in apartheid budgeting.
• His establishment of the celebrated SALDRU and its ever-ground-breaking research work.
• His relentless research in the living and working conditions of black workers, and doing what Monica would say is, from her own unwanted research on farm worker conditions, ‘considering the conditions they (employers) have to hide.’
• The dramatic walk from Grahamstown to Cape Town to draw attention to the pain of migrant labour.
• His major work through the Second Carnegie Enquiry into Poverty, repeating for Blacks (especially Coloureds and Africans), what was done for Afrikaners in the first Carnegie enquiry in the 1930s.
• His commitment to help the new legislators of the democratic era with Economics 101 for newly appointed Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka and a cohort that included the present Minister of Agriculture and Land Reform, Thoko Didiza.
• His commitment to an understanding of the integrated nature of the Southern African economic reality; that the development of Johannesburg is the underdevelopment of Maseru, Maputo and Lilongwe.
• And his work in the last few years with the SACC economic transformation work that sought to craft ways to bring into the productive economy South Africa’s excluded majority.

All this, a Francis manifestation that we celebrate today, of the Hunter-Wilson love ethic, where love is “the drive towards the unity of the separated”; and love demanding “hard thinking and practical application”.

We celebrate Francis and his love ethic, a heritage to which he has been religiously faithful till his last breath. His family knows that love, for each and every one of them. As a brother growing up together Tim, you have known that love, that Illse was to bask in when she became a co-custodian with you, of the Wilson heritage.

Lindy, your relationship was beautiful to watch. It is that loving bond that carried you in the difficult months of Francis’ illness. Part of the beauty of your relationship was in the rhythm of the Wednesday dates. Busy as he was with everything, the man for whom nothing was impossible, that man, never failed you on those regular Wednesday dates, even if it meant it was conducted on the phone from a distance, but must, it had to be.

David, Jessie, Tanya, you each have known your dad as personal in a special way to each of you. And you each thought he was a nice brother, husband, and father. No, he was more than that, he was a bearer of a heritage that remains with you, etched as it is in 1 John 4:7, “beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”

You will sorely miss his special care for each of you, but the abiding Hunter Wilson heritage of faith must and will sustain you. I commend to you another Monica’s life instruction in Outlook on a Century, “to a Christian, the death of a man …is not the end. We look for a resurrection”⁵. And from the tragedy of Monica Wilson’s family as a child (with the death of brother Aylmer), you are urged to do as the old Hunters had to do, to place your anxieties on Christ, as they had to believe that ‘In His will is our tranquillity’⁶. NgesiXhosa we say, “akulahlwa mbeleko ngakufelwa”. One doesn’t throw away the capacity to nurse a child, with the death of the child.

As friends and as the church of Jesus Christ, we are assured that the difficult journey ahead without Francis will be full of grace.

To the SALDRU colleagues Murray Leibbrant and team; to the South African society and the world, Francis was not the giant of a social and practical economist; no, he was just a simple and faithful respondent to the message of today’s gospel in Matthew:

“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

I accepted the Dean’s generous offer to use the special Desmond Tutu cope I am wearing today, not because I have the temerity to wear a garment with so august an association, but I assume the duty to wear it because without a doubt, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu would most heartily approve of it being used on the occasion of celebrating Francis Wilson. He was in his own way what Desmond was, in a different way, but both profoundly impactful in their driving quest for an alternative South African reality – that which is in keeping with the love ethic inaugurated by Jesus Christ as the revival of what was intended at our creation.

And so, we gather this morning, in this eucharistic worship, to give glory to God for Francis Aylmer Hunter Wilson of Hunterstoun Hogsback! Let the man who never rested, rest in peace, and rise in glory! Halleluiah! Halleluiah!!

[Apart from the personal friendship between the Mpumlwanas and the Wilsons, Francis Wilson had an institutional relationship with the SACC through both the South African Outlook, and his & SALDRU’s role in the SACC Economic Transformation Working Group.]

1 Morrow, Sean The Fires Beneath: The Life of Monica Wilson, South African Anthropologist. Cape Town: Penguin Books 2016, Kindle version, Location 1344.

2 Wilson, Francis & Perrot, Dominique (Eds), Outlook on a Century: South Africa 1870-1970, Lovedale: Lovedale Press, 1973, p.12

3 Ibid. p.1

4 These shaded paragraphs were not read at the delivery of the sermon, partly in the interest of time.

5 Op. cit., p.12

6 Op. cit. Kindle version, Location 274

From an email sent by Bishop Carlos Matsinhe of Lebombo, the Acting Presiding Bishop of Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola, to Archbishop Thabo Makgoba:

Today in the afternoon the Reverend Paulo Estevao Hansine was elected Bishop of the Diocese of River Pungue. The election was held at the Church of Bernard Mizeki at Chimoio.

The Publishing Committee has stock of the following titles by Canon John Suggit available.

He celebrated his 100th birthday on 14^th April 2022.

We give thanks to God for his wonderful contribution by way of the following titles and others…..

Orders to:  orders@anglicanchurchsa.org.za

Telephone: 010 880 4396

10 % discount on any quantity, price excludes postage.

Offer available till Friday 6th May 2022

Titles available while stocks last.

From an email sent by Bishop Carlos Matsinhe of Lebombo, the Acting Presiding Bishop of Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola, to Archbishop Thabo Makgoba:

Today, the Anglican Diocese of Maciene has elected the Reverend Agostinho Roberto Buque as its first Bishop. And the Diocese of Christ the King at Uige elected today the Reverend Augusto Domingos.

We sent Bp. Msosa to represent IAMA at Uige and I was with Bp. Manuel at Maciene.

Next Saturday we will be at Inhambane for their election. So we have elected two of the eight bishops. Continuing to thank you for guidance and prayers.

+Carlos IAMA

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba joined the Primates Meeting of the Anglican Communion this week, the members of which met online and in London. They issued the following statement afterwards:

ACSA’s Canon Law Council meets on March 10 and 11 under the theme “Restructuring Church Governance.”

The “20tutu Virtual Conference” of the council is open to all Anglicans interested in Canon Law.

To sign up and follow the conference, see the details below.

An announcement from the Niwano Peace Foundation:

The 39th Niwano Peace Prize awarded to Father Michael Lapsley, SSM of South Africa

Reason for Selection

Dr. Ranjana Mukhopadhyaya

On behalf of the Niwano Peace Prize Committee, it is my pleasure to announce that the 39th Niwano Peace Prize shall be given to Father Michael Lapsley, SSM of South Africa in recognition of his relentless struggle against apartheid and social discriminations, his support for the liberation movement in South Africa and various peacebuilding activities in other parts of the world. Father Lapsley, as a religious leader and a global social activist, has called upon faith communities to reflect and acknowledge social discrimination within their societies and mobilized their support against racism, apartheid and all forms of social discrimination that prevails in different parts of the world. The exceptional aspect of his social activism is that he has not restricted himself to addressing the socio-economic and political basis of racism but has also emphasized on the process of healing to deal with the bitterness, racial hatred and other socio-psychological impacts of injustices that emerge out of social discrimination.

Father Michael Lapsley was born on June 2nd, 1949 in New Zealand. He began his education at the Anglican Society of the Sacred Mission in New Zealand. As white man, he could have enjoyed the ease and trappings of his privilege, but his religious conviction led him to join the priesthood. In 1971, he joined the religious order of the Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM) in Australia. He was ordained to priesthood in 1973.

He went to South Africa at the height of apartheid in that country and began his work as Chaplain in black and white campuses, which exposed him to student activism and the injustices experience by black students under apartheid. He raised his voice for black students who were being shot, detained and tortured. Because of his involvement in anti-apartheid activities, he was expelled from South Africa, but he took this opportunity to travel the world to raise awareness against racism and mobilize support for the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. In 1990, he sustained severe injuries, including losing both hands, the sight in his right eye, and extensive burns from a letter bomb explosion. This incident, rather than leaving him bitter, angry or dejected, reshaped his life’s work and lead to his transition from being a freedom fighter/ social activist to a healer. He realized the need to combine healing and reconciliation into his non-violent peacebuilding efforts.

Father Michael Lapsley was the Chaplain of the Trauma Center for Victims of Violence and Torture in 1993. He founded and became the Director of the Institute for Healing of Memories (IHOM) in Cape Town, South Africa in 1998. Since then, he continues the Institute’s work in South Africa and internationally organizing community forums to combat xenophobia, violence against refugees, workshops for prisoners, human rights education for youth, participating in dialogue sessions and other peacebuilding activities. His “Healing of Memory” workshop provides platform to those who want to share their experiences of injustice and discrimination and want to be heard compassionately. Father Lapsley, in his approach, is very inclusive as he embraces persons of all ages, gender, ethnicity, faith, and marginalized groups.

As a global activist, Father Lapsley after recognizing that racism was not confined to South Africa alone, he did not restrict himself within his country, but has moved globally such as launching the association called Friends of Cuba or creating the International Network for Peace, along with the families of those killed in the September 11 attacks in USA, to promote effective and nonviolent solutions to terrorism.

Father Lapsley draws his spirituality from his reflections on injustices, pain and sufferings caused by social inequalities that he witnessed around him and this led him to seek justice for all based on his understanding of the Bible. Therefore, while being rooted in Christianity, his appeal has been universal and interfaith. Father Lapsley’s non-violent, multi-faith peacebuilding efforts and activities of healing based on restorative justice approach, dialogue, and reconciliation are continuing to contribute to the healing of South Africans as well as many others all over the world.

In this way, Father Michael Lapsley has contributed immensely to the cause of peace and inter-religious cooperation, which is in congruence with the mission of the Niwano Peace Prize.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE NIWANO PEACE FOUNDATION

Father Michael Lapsley, SSM to receive the Niwano Peace Prize

The 39th Niwano Peace Prize will be awarded to Father Michael Lapsley, SSM of South Africa in recognition of his relentless struggle against apartheid and social discrimination, his support for the liberation movement in South Africa and various peacebuilding activities
in other parts of the world. Father Lapsley’s non-violent, multi-faith peacebuilding efforts and activities of healing based on restorative justice approach, dialogue, and reconciliation are continuing to contribute to the healing of South Africans as well as many others all over the world. He has contributed immensely to the cause of peace and inter-religious cooperation, which is in congruence with the mission of the Niwano Peace Prize.

The presentation ceremony will take place in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. In addition to an award certificate, Father Michael Lapsley, SSM will receive a medal and twenty million yen.

To avoid undue emphasis on any particular religion or region, every year the Peace Foundation solicits nominations from people of recognized intellectual and religious stature around the world. In the nomination process, some 600 people and organizations, representing 125 countries and many religions, are asked to propose candidates. Nominations are rigorously screened by the Niwano Peace Prize Committee, which was set up in May of 2003 on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Niwano Peace Prize.

The Committee presently consists of nine religious leaders from various parts of the world, all of whom are involved in movements for peace and inter-religious cooperation.

Here are some comments by members of the Committee on the selection of Father Michael Lapsley, SSM for this year’s award:

• [He] lost both hands and one eye. He did not become bitter. Rather he not only carried on
  his struggle, he set about working on healing and reconciliation. His work focuses on
  healing across all sorts of divides. He saw in justice and he fought it. He saw damage and
  he has strived to heal it. (Mrs. Sarah Joseph OBE)
• Father Michael Lapsley is very deserving of the Niwano Peace Prize. Father Lapsley has
  fought apartheid, which is one of the most striking forms of a hateful and painful
  phenomenon such as racial or ethnic discrimination. By doing so he has earned the esteem
  and respect of black South Africans of all religions. This commitment… was the cause of a
  very serious attempt on his life… gravely injured him, he lost both hands, the sight of one
  eye, and was severely burned. But a few years later, this attack also provoked a real
  transformation in him, a conversion, from… freedom fighter to healer and reconciler. This
  shows that in addition to exercising the virtue of fortress, thanks to which he has endured
  the very serious consequences of the attack suffered, Father Lapsley also exercises the1
  virtue of humility. In his commitment he has met and collaborated with people of different
  religious beliefs to lead them to peace of heart. (Dr. Flaminia Giovanelli)
• After experiencing some gruesome torturing from those favoring racism, discrimination
  and inequalities; Father Lapsley was not scared to challenge the evils imposed by his own
  people over the disadvantaged. Even after liberation of South Africa from apartheid,
  Father Lapsley did not stop his mission of being a social justice activist for all. He realized
  that something more needs to be done to the victims of racism and apartheid for their
  holistic healing. As a global activist, Father Lapsley after recognizing that racism had not
  been confined to South Africa alone, he did not end his campaign for healing of memories
  of those within his country, he also moved globally. (Dr. Nokuzola Mndende)
• Forgiveness and hope are essential as learned from his life experiences in order for healing
  to take place across societies around the world. His contribution to this long-term work
  emphasizes and supports trauma healing and peaceful coexistence. He has reached many
  persons through dialogue processes at the grassroots to the top of political and religious
  hierarchies. His influence on healing of memories has helped many persons all over the
  world. (Mr. Somboon Chungprampree)
• Despite of the attack and losing his both arms, he courageously promotes healing of
  memory. He does not only preach it but practices it in his institution for healing memories.
  A victim of violence but an example of forgiveness. I still believe that Father Lapsley
  deserves to be recognized in such a ruthless world, where violence and power crush the
  victims. He paid a high price but still speaks about healing of memory. As there are many
  persecuted victims in our world, this is a sign of an empowered victim who speaks about
  forgiveness and healing. People of power need to see that we recognize victims of power.
  (Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan)

The Niwano Peace Prize

The Niwano Peace Foundation established the Niwano Peace Prize to honor and encourage individuals and organizations that have contributed significantly to inter-religious cooperation, thereby furthering the cause of world peace, and to make their achievements known as widely as possible. The Foundation hopes in this way both to enhance inter-religious understanding and cooperation and to encourage the emergence of still more persons devoted to working for world peace.

The Prize is named in honor of the founder and first president of the lay Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei-kai, Nikkyo Niwano. For Niwano, peace was not merely an absence of conflict among nations, but a dynamic harmony in the inner lives of people as well as in our communities, nations and the world. Seeing peace as the goal of Buddhism, Niwano devoted much of the latter half of his life to promoting world peace, especially through inter-religious discussion and cooperation.

Niwano Peace Prize recipients are:

1. Archbishop Hélder P. Câmara (1983)
2. Dr. Homer A. Jack (1984)
3. Mr. Zhao Puchu (1985)
4. Dr. Philip A. Potter (1986)
5. The World Muslim Congress (1987)
6. Rev. Etai Yamada (1989)
7. Mr. Norman Cousins (1990)
8. Dr. Hildegard Goss-Mayr (1991)2
9. Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne (1992)
10. Neve Shalom/ Wahat al-Salam (1993)
11. Paulo Evaristo Cardinal Arns (1994)
12. Dr. M. Aram (1995)
13. Ms. Marii K. Hasegawa (1996)
14. The Corrymeela Community (1997)
15. Ven. Maha Ghosananda (1998)
16. The Community of Sant’Egidio (1999)
17. Dr. Kang Won Yong (2000)
18. Rev. Abuna Elias Chacour (2001)
19. Rev. Samuel Ruiz García (2002)
20. Dr. Priscilla Elworthy (2003)
21. The Acholi Religious Leaders’ Peace Initiative (2004)
22. Dr. Hans Küng (2005)
23. Rabbis for Human Rights (2006)
24. Dharma Master Cheng Yen (2007)
25. His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal (2008)
26. Rev. Canon Gideon Baguma Byamugisha (2009)
27. Ms. Ela Ramesh Bhatt (2010)
28. Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa (2011)
29. Ms. Rosalina Tuyuc Velásquez (2012)
30. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Gunnar Stålsett (2013)
31. Ms. Dena Merriam (2014)
32. Pastor Esther Abimiku Ibanga (2015)
33. Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation (2016)
34. Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan (2017)
35. Adyan Foundation (2018)
36. Dr. John Paul Lederach (2019)
37. Venerable Pomnyun (2020)
38. Venerable Shih Chao-hwei (2021)

The Niwano Peace Foundation

The Niwano Peace Foundation was chartered in 1978 to contribute to the realization of world peace and the enhancement of a culture of peace. The foundation promotes research and other activities based on the spirit of religious principles and serves the cause of peace in such fields as education, science, religion and philosophy. The Foundation’s assets of about 4.4 billion yen makes possible the Niwano Peace Prize and other activities such as grants, research projects, lectures, symposia, and international exchanges. The Niwano Peace Foundation is a government-recognized charitable organization.

There is a vast outpouring of tributes and sermons in cathedrals and churches around the globe following the death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu. We will post a few key texts here on our Provincial website or Archbishop Thabo’s blog and try to curate selected content from other sources and post it to the Provincial Facebook page over the coming days.

FUNERAL FOR DESMOND TUTU

“What does the Lord require of you but to pursue justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

In Desmond Mpilo Tutu this threefold cord was interwoven in a long, lived authenticity. That is why we loved him and respected him and valued him so deeply. Small in physical stature, he was a giant among us morally and spiritually. His faith was authentic, not counterfeit or half-hearted. He lived it, even at great cost to himself, with an inclusive, all-embracing love. His friend, Nelson Mandela, put it perfectly when he said: “Sometimes strident, often tender, never afraid and seldom without humour, Desmond Tutu’s voice will always be the voice of the voiceless.”

I come here today, in my octogenarian years, sensitive to the awesomeness of the occasion, which is likely to catch the tearful and thankful mood of this our nation and of the entire world. I come in response to the expressed wish of my archbishop and friend, for it was he who asked me, some years ago, to do this at his funeral. How could I refuse such a request, such an honour?

First, let me say a few words to the chief mourner among us. My dear Leah, Gogo Emeritus of our church, distinguished member of its Order of Simon of Cyrene, you and I are in a close solidarity in the loss of a much-loved spouse. I therefore know something of what you must now be going through, though each person should be free to grieve in whatever way is most appropriate for them. Many times you wiped away the tears of your husband for, as we all know, he cried very easily and, in the life of our country, both past and present, he had much to cry about, not to mention the wider world which seems in many ways to be tearing itself apart. Today we are here to try, in a small way, to wipe away your tears, though tears are, of course, a very necessary part of our grieving. Allow me to give you, and your family, a comment which was sent to me for my comfort and which I found helpful within the strange twists and turns of my grieving:

“Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.” (Earl Grollman)

Desmond and I became close in an unlikely partnership at a truly critical time in the life of our country from 1989 – 1996, he as Archbishop of Cape Town and I as his deputy when, as Bishop of Natal, I was elected by my brother bishops to be also what is called “Dean of the Province”. I was asked during a pastoral visit we made to Jerusalem what this cumbersome ecclesiastical title meant. My answer, on the spur of the moment, was that it meant “number two to Tutu”. The nickname stuck, but more importantly, at a deeper level our partnership struck a chord perhaps in the hearts and minds of many people: a dynamic black leader and his white deputy in the dying years of apartheid; and hey presto, the heavens did not collapse. We were a foretaste, if you like, of what could be in our wayward, divided nation.

“What does the Lord require of you but to pursue justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” Allow me briefly to unpack each of these qualities in relation to our esteemed Archbishop.

Pursue justice

Desmond was not on some crusade of personal aggrandisement or egotism, though he often and disarmingly admitted that he loved to be loved, and what is wrong with that? Do we not all love to be loved? It is a human craving from the moment we are born. But no: Desmond’s response to grave injustice came from the depths of his being and often in response to what he called ‘the divine nudge’. Listen to what his favourite prophet, Jeremiah, wrote: “There is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:9) That is how Desmond Tutu lived and ministered in a situation of systemic and often brutal injustice in his own beloved country. Nor did the fire in his breast die out in his years of retirement and old age, though he was thrilled with the coming of democracy in 1994. “Watch out, watch out, watch out!” he warned sternly when the new government stalled expediently in giving a visa to his friend and fellow Peace Laureate, the Dalai Lama, at the time of the Arch’s 80^th birthday celebration. He was not similarly turned down when he went to Dharamsala in India for the Dalai Lama’s 80^th birthday and, together, they produced a remarkable book called “The Book of Joy”, which is a spiritual classic for our time and, indeed, for all time: a book crafted by deep and humorous conversation between a Buddhist and a Christian, and compiled beautifully by Douglas Abrams who is a Jew. There is a profound pursuit of a just order in this fine product, namely a religious just order amidst so much shameful intolerance in today’s world. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.

Love kindness

This was our ‘Arch’ at his very best. His was not a harsh, ideological quest for justice. Always it was grounded in mercy, in ‘hesed’ (to use the Hebrew word), in an enduring loving-kindness: the gentle touch, the forgiving heart, the warm smile – ah yes, the warm smile. Remember his fine book on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that seminal body which he chaired; it was titled “No Future without Forgiveness”. How could someone who had suffered so much hostility and disdain in his own country settle for such a conviction, such magnanimity? It was because all that he stood for and strove for was undergirded by a spirit of mercy towards everyone. Did you ever receive from him a phone call or a gift of flowers, a card, a handwritten letter or an email? When my wife of 57 years died on All Souls Day, 2016 he was on the phone to me, despite great physical frailty, to comfort me and to offer, as he would say, a little prayer from the heart. Desmond was quite at ease praying on the telephone with others. Actually, he prayed anywhere and everywhere, not only in churches and chapels. He so wanted to be at Dorrie’s funeral and was truly pained that ill-health prevented him. The flowers, of course, arrived.

Walk humbly with your God

Here is the mystery of the interior pilgrimage of the soul. There were three Ps about our Archbishop; he was the prophet, the pastor and the pray-er. What many perhaps did not realise was that the prayer undergirded, guided and prompted all the rest. A daily Eucharist was his custom, regardless of the circumstances; I remember having one with him in Frankfurt airport when we waited for a connecting flight. It is utterly appropriate that his funeral service today is immersed in what we call a Requiem Eucharist, and it would be his wish that all of us be free to receive the sacred body and blood of Christ at it. Desmond was not only immersed in the liturgical prayer of the church; he was also up at four in the morning each day to pray – to meditate, to contemplate and to intercede. In his intercessory work, he would engage in what Leah called a Cook’s Tour around the whole world. In his prayer the world was his parish, and surely that was appropriate for a holder of the Nobel Peace Prize.

So I give you, in memory of this holy and very human man, this humane leader, a threefold cord which we too can try to emulate: pursue justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.

I conclude this intertwined sermon and eulogy with the words of a personal Praise Song, looking back on our Arch’s remarkable life and held in awe by his going from us now:

Yo!

Desmond Mpilo Tutu

Born and raised where the gentle Batswana live,

Land of the cameeldoring tree and the wide, wide vlakte;

his mother a domestic worker, his father a teacher;

Polio survivor, T B survivor, visited unforgettably in hospital

by one Trevor Huddleston C R,

Bright child, living in the shadow of the great injustice.

Raised through sickness to a priestly calling,

finding the fire in your breast that prevented silence.

Articulate scholar, prophet, pastor, pray-er,

preacher of passion with arms stretched out,

diminutive person making presidents tremble.

Small person of the past becoming great in the unfolding purposes of God.

Yo!

Mbishobhi,

Learning the art in mountain kingdom, being greeted ‘Khotso, Ntate’,

visiting parishes in Basotho blanket astride a hardy horse.

Learning the harder way in the city of gold,

the bitter irony of red carpets abroad and icy stares back home.

Learning to lean on God and the safety valve of an irrepressible, self-

deprecating humour.

Voice of the muted multitude, son of the dark mysterious land,

Called at the height of crisis to the Cape of Storms to transform it into the Cape of Good Hope;

Mbishobhi Omkhulu!

Take rest at last, lala kahle, our dear friend the Arch.

You have tended the wounds of noble strife, the wounds of Ubuntu;

enter now into the full embrace of the great and generous God you served.

Bishop Michael Nuttall

Please see the updated list of memorials here

Briefing for news conference at St George’s Cathedral
1030 am Monday December 27, 2021

    • Welcome. Archbishop Desmond valued his relationships with media, particularly because his voice would not have been heard in the early years, were it not for the media.

    • We have a busy week, in which many organisations will no doubt plan many events

    • Here today, we will discuss the funeral, which will take place here, in the Cathedral which became called the “People’s Cathedral” in the struggle years, at 10 am on Saturday, New Year’s Day. It is here where his ashes will also be interred.

    • But expect announcements in the next day or two, from other churches and institutions of State and NGOs, about their events. We know of the following main events:

        ◦ The Diocese of the Highveld will have an Ecumenical Eucharist at 5pm on Wednesday at St Dunstan’s Cathedral in Benoni.
        ◦ The City of Cape Town will host an Interfaith Memorial Service at 6 pm on Wednesday.  They will announce full details themselves.
        ◦ The Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman will be having an Ecumenical Thanksgiving service at St Cyprian’s Cathedral at 10am on Thursday.
        ◦ The Diocese of Pretoria will hold an ecumenical and interfaith service at 11 am on Thursday at St Albans Cathedral. They will announce full details themselves.
        ◦ The Diocese of Johannesburg will also hold a memorial service in St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg at 11 am on Thursday.  They will announce full details themselves.
        ◦  Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation will host an event in Cape Town on Thursday evening.
        ◦ St Mary’s Cathedral in Gqeberha will hold a memorial service at 10 am on Friday.
        ◦ Other Cathedrals in other cities will no doubt announce memorial services in the coming days and weeks

    • Two important points to note: (1) Final details will come from those institutions themselves, and they are subject to change, and (2) this is very important especially for the church community. Please attend services in your local communities and parishes. Our lists of possible attendees at the funeral run to 400 or 500 names, and more than 100 clergy. But Covid regulations restrict attendance at funerals to a maximum of 100. Only a fraction of those who want to be there can be accommodated in the Cathedral. So please don’t get on a bus to Cape Town.

    • Now to the arrangements for St George’s Cathedral this week.

    • Bells will ring at 12 noon each day at the Cathedral and at many cathedrals and churches across the land. In Cape Town, the Angelus prayer will be recited.

    • The Archbishop Emeritus will lie in State on Friday, and the public will be given an opportunity to file past his coffin, which will reflect the simplicity with which he asked to be buried. We will accommodate as many people as we can in the hours available. Outside the Cathedral, the City of Cape Town has laid out condolence books and places to leave flowers.

    • Archbishop Desmond’s remains will then lie overnight, alone, in the Cathedral which he loved.

    • The funeral will take place in the Cathedral at 10 am on Saturday January 1, 2022.

    • The National and Local governments are being extraordinarily helpful with the arrangements, and further details will no doubt be announced in the next day or two. There has not been time to complete our consultations with them on their involvement.  

    • But these are the details the church is responsible for:
        ◦ The service will be an Anglican Requiem Mass, as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond wanted;
        ◦ The preacher will be Bishop Michael Nuttall, the retired Bishop of Natal, who was Dean of the Anglican Church in Archbishop Desmond’s Tutu time. In that position he became known as “Number Two to Tutu”, and they formed an exceptionally close relationship, which in the 1980s modelled how a white leader could work for and closely with a black leader.
        ◦ The choir will be the renowned Johannesburg choir, which he loved, Imilonji ka Ntu, whose contribution may have to be streamed in.