Archbishop Tutu in Carolina

I was watching the CBS Evening News tonight and they showed a medley of commencement speeches from President Obama, President Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and several others. For me the highlight was a clip from Archbishop Desmond Tutu's speech at the University of North Carolina. Archbishop Tutu is to me one of the heroes of the Faith of our time and I have no doubt that he will someday be recognized in Lesser Feasts and Fasts or its successor Holy Men, Holy Women. I went to the University web site to see if the entire speech was available and it was. The whole speech is a joy to read and a video of it is also available. Here are some excerpts:

Sometimes they say to you when you come to gatherings such as this, “Oh this man or woman is well known and doesn’t need to be introduced.” Well, one day I was in San Francisco, and a lady came up and she was quite effusive and warm, and she said “Hello, Archbishop Mandela!” (Laughter.) Sort of getting two for the price of one.

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When there is injustice and oppression, God doesn’t normally send a lightning bolt. We might wish that’s what God did, but God does not normally send a lightning bolt to zap the perpetrator of injustice and oppression. God waits! God waits on all of us who are prepared to become God’s fellow workers, God’s partners.

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God has a dream. God has a dream. And we say, “Hey, God, that was really Martin Luther King Jr. who said that.” And God says, "I know, Martin had a dream, I have a dream, too. I have a dream that my children everywhere will know that they belong in one family, a family that has no outsiders." You know, Jesus said “I, if I be lifted up, I will draw–he didn’t say I will draw some–he said I will draw all, all, all! I will draw all! Rich, poor; clever, not so clever; beautiful, not so beautiful; yellow, red, black, gay, lesbian, so-called straight.” (laughter)

God said “All. All. All. All. All. All.” And you know this is radical. All, all, all all men. Palestinians. Israelis. (cheering) All, all. Bin Laden … you know … George Bush … all, all, all, all belong in this family, and God says, “Help me, help me to realize my dream. Help me, help me, help me."

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God says, “Go on dreaming. Go on being the idealistic people you are. Go on being the ones who believe that poverty can indeed be made history. Go on believing that it is possible to eradicate hunger. How can we live and sleep comfortably, knowing that millions of our sisters and brothers go to bed hungry? God says “Please, please, help me; help me to make this world a little more compassionate. Help me, please, help me to make this world a little more gentle.”