NEW YORK—Fordham University will award the Most Reverend Desmond Mpilo Tutu, archbishop emeritus of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, an honorary doctorate of humane letters for his unwavering quest for justice and human dignity onWednesday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m. at the Fordham University Church on the Rose Hill campus.
This event is free and open to the public, however an RSVP is required. To RSVP, call (718) 817- 3012 or e-mail chaplain@fordham.edu.
“God is good enough to give to each generation one or two figures, whose commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is lived out luminously, concretely and courageously,” said Gerald Blaszczak, S.J., vice president for Mission and Ministries at Fordham. “These figures help us see that living in the hope, faith and charity of Christ, even in the face of the fiercest opposition, is both possible and necessary if healing and peace are to come to our world. Fordham celebrates in Archbishop Tutu the values that lie at the heart of its own mission and identity.”
Tutu, an Anglican priest, began his campaign against the apartheid system in South Africa in 1978 when he became the first black general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. In the mid 1990s, he served as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, investigating human rights violations under the administration of President Nelson Mandela, and in 1996 retired as the archbishop of Cape Town.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23
TIME: 2 P.M.
PLACE: UNIVERSITY CHURCH ROSE HILL CAMPUS, 441 E. FORDHAM ROAD, BRONX, N.Y.
