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Mpho Tutu van Furth

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Mpho Tutu van Furth
Tutu van Furth speaking at the Forgiveness & Reconciliation symposium on 30 May 2018
Born
Mpho Andrea Tutu

1963 (age 60–61)
London, United Kingdom
NationalityEnglish
Occupation(s)Anglican priest, public speaker, author
Notable work
  • The Book of Forgiving
  • Made for Goodness
  • Tutu: The Authorised Portrait
Spouses
Joseph Burris
​
​
(m. 1993, divorced)​
[1]
Marceline van Furth
​
(m. 2015)​
Parents

Mpho Andrea Tutu van Furth (born 1963) is a South African Anglican priest, author and activist. She is the daughter of Archbishop Desmond and Leah Tutu. She co-wrote two books with her father, and a biography about him with the journalist Allister Sparks. She was ordained in 2003, but the Anglican Church of South Africa will not permit her to work as a priest in the church because she is married to a woman, Marceline van Furth. In 2022, she began preaching in Amsterdam.

Biography

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Tutu House was her childhood home in Johannesburg

Early life

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Mpho Andrea Tutu was born in London to Nomalizo Tutu, a South African activist, and Desmond Tutu, an Anglican bishop.[2] Both her parents are known for their work as anti-apartheid and human rights activists. Tutu has three siblings: Trevor Thamsanqa, Theresa Thandeka and Naomi Nontombi.[3] She was 31 years old when apartheid ended in 1994.[4]

As a child, Tutu had no desire to follow in her father's footprints as a priest and later described her path to the ministry as taking the "scenic route" and said she felt God calling her into the profession.[5]

Career

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Tutu with the Dalai Lama at the Vancouver Peace Summit
With her father, Desmond Tutu, in the Netherlands, 2012

Tutu van Furth was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 2003.[4] Before her ordination, she was the director of the Discovery Program at All Saints Church in Worcester, Massachusetts.[6] She received her master's degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts,[6] and after her ordination she began preaching at the historic Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia.[7]

Tutu van Furth has co-authored a number of books including Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference, The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World and Tutu: The Authorised Portrait; The former two books were written with her father and the latter with journalist Allister Sparks.[7] She has been an outspoken advocate for the importance of forgiveness.[8][9] She made news for forgiving the murderer of her housekeeper in 2012.[10][11] She and her father have advocated for forgiveness in the wake of racial tensions and police shootings in the United States.[12] As a public speaker, she has shared the stage with The 14th Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle, Ken Robinson and others.[13][14]

Tutu van Furth was the founding director of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and served as executive director from 2011 to 2016.[2][15]

On 30 January 2022, Mpho Tutu van Furth was confirmed as pastor of Vrijburg, a church in Amsterdam, by the reverend Joost Röselaers.[16]

Marriage and controversy

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In 2015, Tutu married Marceline van Furth [nl], a Dutch professor of medicine, and moved to Amstelveen in the Netherlands.[4][a] Shortly after the marriage, the Diocese of Saldanha Bay withdrew her license as a priest.[18][19][20] Both of her parents were supportive of her marriage.[21] In 2016 the BBC reported that the Anglican Church of South Africa is looking at new guidelines for members who enter same-sex unions, but it is "not clear whether there will be any change when it comes to same-sex marriages of church clerics".[18] As of 2023, the Church Synod still will not bless same-sex unions.[22]

In regards to her marriage, Tutu van Furth said, "I had the extreme good fortune of growing up in a household with parents who were very clear about their faith and very clear about full inclusion of all people ... regardless of gender and gender identity and regardless of sexual orientation." Her father said in 2013 that he would never "worship a God who is homophobic" and both of them have been active in calls for LGBT equality. Desmond Tutu stated that he was "as passionate about [the campaign against homophobia] as I ever was about apartheid".[4]

In September 2022, the Church of England's Diocese of Hereford refused a request to allow her to conduct a funeral in the diocese, that of her godfather and her father's friend the anti-apartheid campaigner Martin Kenyon,[23] because she is married to a woman (the Church of England does not allow its clergy to marry the same sex).[24][25] Former Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes criticised the decision and said: "We urgently need to make space for conscience, space for pastoral care, and space for love".[25]

Awards

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  • 2004 – South African Women for Women: Woman of Distinction Award[26]
  • 2007 – African Women of Empowerment Award[26]
  • 2010 – Abingdon Worship Annual Award[26]

Published works

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  • Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference (2010; with Desmond Tutu)
  • Tutu: The Authorised Portrait (2011; with Allister Sparks)
  • The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World (2014; with Desmond Tutu)

Notes

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  1. ^ She was previously married to Joseph Burris, with whom she had two children.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "The Ties That Inspire". Washington Post. 26 January 2024. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Mpho Tutu Van Furth". athena40.org.
  3. ^ "Desmond Tutu – Children, Family and Facts". answersafrica.com. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Greenhalgh, Hugo (16 December 2020). "Desmond Tutu's lesbian daughter calls for LGBT equality". Trust.org.
  5. ^ Falsani, Cathleen (6 March 2010). "Mpho Tutu: Her Faith, Her Ministry And Her Father". Huffington Post. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Hello, I'm Reverend Mpho A. Tutu". chopra.com.
  7. ^ a b Mpho Tutu van Furth. ideaarchitects.com.
  8. ^ van Gelder, Sarah (31 May 2015). "Desmond Tutu and His Daughter, Mpho, on How the US Can Heal From Racial Wounds". Truth out.
  9. ^ "Reverend Mpho Tutu". Skoll.
  10. ^ Duhigg, Charles (21 March 2020). "He Murdered Someone in My House. I Forgave Him". Slate.
  11. ^ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (11 June 2014). "20 years after apartheid, South Africa is still finding forgiveness". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  12. ^ Davis, Fania E.; van Gelder, Sarah (2 June 2015). "Can America Heal After Ferguson? We Asked Desmond Tutu and His Daughter". billmoyers.com. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  13. ^ Reflections: World Peace through Personal Peace. dalailamacenter.org. Dalai Lama Center – 29 March 2010.
  14. ^ Mpho Tutu van Furth – About. mphotutuvanfurth.com.
  15. ^ "Forgiveness, with Mpho Tutu van Furth [MIPodcast #81]". 10 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Mpho Tutu van Furth wordt predikant van Vrijburg". 10 December 2021.
  17. ^ "Desmond Tutu's Daughter, Mpho Weds Lesbian Partner". The Will. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Mpho Tutu: Choosing between the church and being gay". BBC. 9 June 2016.
  19. ^ Hughes, Rosalind (24 May 2016). "The Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu-Van Furth surrenders license to minister". Episcopal Cafe.
  20. ^ Kuruvilla, Carol (10 June 2016). "Desmond Tutu's Daughter Lost Her Job After Marrying A Woman". HuffPost.
  21. ^ Sherwood, Harriet (9 June 2016). "Desmond Tutu's daughter: 'painful' to give up ministry after marrying woman". The Guardian.
  22. ^ Serfontein, Anli (6 March 2023). "Bishops in Southern Africa agree to prayers but not blessings for same-sex couples". Church Times. London. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  23. ^ "Martin Kenyon obituary".
  24. ^ Lianne Kolirin (23 September 2022). "Church of England bars Desmond Tutu's daughter from leading funeral due to gay marriage". CNN. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  25. ^ a b Farley, Harry (22 September 2022). "Church of England bars Desmond Tutu's daughter from leading funeral". BBC News. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  26. ^ a b c THE REVEREND CANON MPHO A TUTU VAN FURTH
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