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Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Speak

On Friday, October 8, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner, will speak in Laxson Auditorium at 7 p.m. His appearance, sponsored by the Office of the President, Chico Performances, and AT&T Wireless, is part of the President's Lecture Series.

When he was 12 years old, Tutu met Father Trevor Huddleston, an Anglican cleric and outspoken critic of apartheid. While Tutu was recovering from tuberculosis, Father Huddleston visited him weekly for two years and inspired him to devote his life to kindness and caring for others. The simple visits impressed the young man by their ability to comfort him. "It's not because people do spectacular things that they are necessarily remarkable in the eyes of God. Even if you light just one candle to dispel a little bit of darkness instead of cursing the dark, you are doing something tremendous," said the Archbishop. "When you do your little bit of good where you are, it is those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."

Archbishop Tutu's ability to overwhelm the world was recognized in 1984 when he received the Nobel Peace Prize. As general secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), Tutu had pursued the organization's priorities of justice and reconciliation during the turmoil following the 1976 Soweto uprising. His leadership helped to establish the council as a means of providing assistance to victims of apartheid. "One has to keep saying that our system has to change by making people more critical," he said. His outspoken criticism against the injustice of the system earned international recognition.

Tutu initially planned to become a schoolteacher as his father had been, and after earning his teaching diploma and a bachelor of arts from the University of South Africa, he taught for four years at his alma mater, Johannesburg Bantu High School, and Munsieville High School in Krugersorp. In 1958, he entered the ministry in the Church of the Providence of Southern Africa and became an ordinand at St. Peter's Theological College, Rosettenville. After he was ordained to the priesthood in 1961, he obtained a Bachelor of Divinity Honours and Master of Theology in London. Returning to South Africa in 1967, he held positions at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. He also served as associate director of the Theological Education Fund of the World Council of Churches, dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg, and bishop of Lesotho before joining the SACC.

In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, Archbishop Tutu has received the Order for Meritorious Service Award from President Mandela, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Award for outstanding service to the Anglican Communion, the Family of Man Gold Medal Award, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize.

After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Tutu served as bishop of Johannesburg and later as archbishop of Cape Town, continuing his work toward bridging the chasm between black and white Anglicans. In 1995, President Mandela asked Tutu to head the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Their first report was presented in 1998.

The author of four collections of sermons and addresses, Tutu is now working on two books, one chronicling the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the other on transfiguration. He is now the Robert W. Woodruff Visiting Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. -- LM