Desmond Tutu Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Dean of St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg and Bishop of Lesotho: 1975β1978=== In 1975, Tutu was nominated to be the new [[Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg|Bishop of Johannesburg]], although he lost out to [[Timothy Bavin]].{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=94|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=54}} Bavin suggested that Tutu take his newly vacated position, that of the [[Dean (religion)|dean]] of St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg. Tutu was elected to this positionβthe fourth highest in South Africa's Anglican hierarchyβin March 1975, becoming the first black man to do so, an appointment making headline news in South Africa.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=94β96|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=55, 58|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=139, 144β145}} Tutu was officially installed as dean in August 1975. The cathedral was packed for the event.{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=145β146}} Moving to the city, Tutu lived not in the official dean's residence in the white suburb of [[Houghton Estate|Houghton]] but rather in [[Tutu House|a house]] on a middle-class street in the [[Orlando West]] township of [[Soweto]], a largely impoverished black area.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=96β97|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=58|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=146}} Although majority white, the cathedral's congregation was racially mixed, something that gave Tutu hope that a racially equal, de-segregated future was possible for South Africa.{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1pp=59β60|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=147}} He encountered some resistance to his attempts to modernise the [[liturgies]] used by the congregation,{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=98|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=60|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=149}} including his attempts to replace masculine pronouns with gender neutral ones.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=98β99|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=60}} [[File:Lesotho mountain village (5285775857).jpg|thumb|left|As Bishop of Lesotho, Tutu travelled around the country's mountains visiting the people living there]] Tutu used his position to speak out on social issues,{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=60}} publicly endorsing an international [[Disinvestment from South Africa|economic boycott of South Africa]] over apartheid.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=155}} He met with Black Consciousness and Soweto leaders,{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=102β103|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=61}} and shared a platform with anti-apartheid campaigner [[Winnie Mandela]] in opposing the government's [[Terrorism Act, 1967]].{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=150}} He held a 24-hour vigil for racial harmony at the cathedral where he prayed for activists detained under the act.{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=150β151}} In May 1976, he wrote to Prime Minister [[B. J. Vorster]], warning that if the government maintained apartheid then the country would erupt in racial violence.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=104β106|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=61β62|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=154}} Six weeks later, the [[Soweto uprising]] broke out as black youth clashed with police. Over the course of ten months, at least 660 were killed, most under the age of 24.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=106|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=62β64|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=154, 156β158}} Tutu was upset by what he regarded as the lack of outrage from [[white South Africans]]; he raised the issue in his Sunday sermon, stating that the white silence was "deafening" and asking if they would have shown the same nonchalance had white youths been killed.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=107|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=64|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=158}} After seven months as dean, Tutu was nominated to become the [[Bishop of Lesotho]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1p=65|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=149}} Although Tutu did not want the position, he was elected to it in March 1976 and reluctantly accepted.{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1p=65|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=151}} This decision upset some of his congregation, who felt that he had used their parish as a stepping stone to advance his career.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=65}} In July, [[Bill Burnett]] consecrated Tutu as a bishop at St Mary's Cathedral.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=109|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=65|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=159}} In August, Tutu was enthroned as the Bishop of Lesotho in a ceremony at [[Maseru]]'s Cathedral of St Mary and St James; thousands attended, including King [[Moshoeshoe II]] and Prime Minister [[Leabua Jonathan]].{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=109|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=65|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=159}} Travelling through the largely rural diocese,{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=111|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2pp=160β161}} Tutu learned [[Sesotho]].{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=161}} He appointed Philip Mokuku as the first dean of the diocese and placed great emphasis on [[further education]] for the Basotho clergy.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=160}} He befriended the royal family although his relationship with Jonathan's government was strained.{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1pp=66β67|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=162}} In September 1977 he returned to South Africa to speak at the [[Eastern Cape]] funeral of Black Consciousness activist [[Steve Biko]], who had been killed by police.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=117β118|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=67|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=163}} At the funeral, Tutu stated that Black Consciousness was "a movement by which God, through Steve, sought to awaken in the black person a sense of his intrinsic value and worth as a child of God".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=164}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page