Desmond Tutu's Daughter Follows in Father's Footsteps

Episcopal News Service. June 9, 2003 [2003-129]

Janice Beetle Scaife

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.'