wfn.org | Episcopalians: Desmond Tutu's daughter follows in father's footsteps

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

June 9, 2003

2003-129

Episcopalians: Desmond Tutu's daughter follows in father's 
footsteps

by Janice Beetle Scaife

(ENS) The Rev. Mpho Tutu was ordained to the transitional 
diaconate June 7 at Christ Church Cathedral in Springfield, 
Massachusetts, continuing a spiritual journey that she said was 
inspired by the Holy Spirit and her father, Desmond M. Tutu, the 
Anglican archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa.

"I've had the example of two parents who've had very lively 
ministries of their own," said Tutu of her father and mother, 
Leah Tutu, at a press conference following the ordination at the 
cathedral for the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. "I've always 
felt that my home is the church. This is the place that I've 
always sought out. If I didn't feel a call by God to an ordained 
ministry then I couldn't do it," the 39-year-old deacon added.

Marked by joy and solemnity, Mpho's ordination service was 
highlighted by the laying on of hands by Bishop Gordon P. 
Scruton of Western Massachusetts, the vesting of the newly 
ordained deacon by her mother, and by a sermon preached by her 
father, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize.

Archbishop Tutu spoke of his love of God, and offered thanks for 
the gift of his daughter. "We thank you, God, for her caring and 
compassionate kindness," he said. To Mpho, he said, "God will 
highly exalt you and give glory that is everlasting. Go in power 
and love and grace in God and be a servant of God."

A ministry with women

Mpho completed a three-year Master's of Divinity program at 
Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, over four 
years as she spent a year studying at the College of the 
Transfiguration, an Anglican provincial seminary in South 
Africa, her native country. 

For the next two years, she will be clergy resident at Christ 
Church in Alexandria, Virginia. She expects to be ordained a 
priest, and drawing on several experiences that have moved her 
over the past five years, she feels called toward a ministry 
with women.

Mpho is a strong-willed woman who said she wants to effect 
change in the world so that her 6-year-old daughter--and girls 
and women across the globe--will be safe from violence and 
assured in their right to make whatever life choices they 
choose. 

"She should have without question the opportunities I had to 
question a right to," Mpho said. "She should know that it is 
possible for her to be a doctor, a lawyer, a priest  a bishop 
if she wants to be."

Strength of character has been present in Mpho since she was a 
child, her father said during his sermon. When Mpho was a young 
girl, Archbishop Tutu said, he would often say to her, "Shut up. 
You talk too much."

The reprimand would fluster Mpho for a moment, but then she 
would hotly respond, "You talk too much too. You talk all alone 
in church," Archbishop Tutu said. "Now, she is about to have her 
chance to talk all alone in church, too."

Joy of family and friends

Just as their easy, loving relationship was evident through the 
archbishop's sermon, it was evident throughout the day as well, 
as were the Tutus' very close family ties. Before the service, 
Mpho Tutu was more focused on her family and friends than on 
herself. Seemingly unflustered, Mpho gathered her daughter, 
Nyaniso Burris, close to her side and pulled her dozens of 
cornrows into one ponytail. 

After the ordination, Tutu bantered easily with his 
grandchildren, Mpho's niece and nephew, Nompumelelo Ngomane and 
Mpilo Ngomane. The young girl told her grandfather about having 
started her own band and written a song, and Mpilo reminded his 
grandfather that he is a soccer player.

"He is very good, this guy, at soccer. He scores goals," Tutu 
told a gathered crowd, adding with a chuckle, "These guys, they 
kick in any direction, as long as they kick."

Tutu said Mpho's godfather from London was present at the 
service as well as friends and family from around the country 
and from South Africa. Mpho's husband, Joe Burris, a 
sportswriter for the Boston Globe, also attended.

"It's been a great joy to celebrate that," Tutu said of the 
bonds of friendship and family. "I'm just so overwhelmed really. 
Many of our family spent the day in tears. When they sang the 
Lord's Prayer  I broke down a little bit there."

Speaking the language of need

Before she entered seminary, Mpho ran an after-school and summer 
program for children from poor and single-parent homes. 

Then, during her year at seminary in South Africa, she was 
awarded a grant from the Episcopal Evangelical Education Society 
to develop a pastoral care program for rape survivors, and back 
in the states the following year, she worked at a shelter for 
women and children who had suffered from domestic violence.

"The language of need is universal. The privilege of being able 
to be with people at their times of need, when their lives are 
at such a painful point is just incredible," she said. "It's an 
awesome privilege."

Is she intimidated about trying to fill the shoes of her father? 
"Yes and no and maybe," she said. "I'm here because I have a 
vocation to be here. "Besides," she added with a wry smile 
directed at her father. "His shoes aren't that nice."

------

--Janice Beetle Scaife is  communications missioner for the 
Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts.