A sustained round of applause greeted Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa as he thanked the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes (CEEP) February 23 for their role in replacing oppression with Christ’s abundance.
"Dear friends, God is saying to you please help me turn all kinds of wilderness into glorious gardens because in God's world today, the fields are covered with weeds and tears of oppression and injustice of abuse and exploitation," he said to the 583 gathered at New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel.
Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner renowned for his anti-apartheid activism, said God wants to change all of it into lush fields of freedom, justice, compassion and caring “for the good strikes down with lighting bolts the perpetrators of injustice and oppression.”
He thanked parishes including All Saints Pasadena, California, and New York’s Trinity Wall Street for their continued support of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre and acknowledged “the many projects that would not have been possible without the assistance of the Consortium.”
The Desmond Tutu Centre for Peace, in Cape Town, South Africa, works primarily to apply the experience of the South African people and the example of Desmond Tutu to inspire a new generation of visionary peace builders. Its focus is to teach the principles -- practiced by ordinary people -- that were able to guide South Africa from a legacy of violence to a cooperative peace.
“There are many great people out there in this wonderful community that is the Episcopal Church,” Tutu said. “You are among those who said no to war, to the erosion of the illegal rights. Many, many, many of you cared enough and we want to thank you for that.”
Tutu urged participants “to be on the lookout for other worthy causes…because God has no one but us to be God’s partners,” he said. “And you in this Consortium have been among God’s best partners to help bring divine projects to a successful completion.”
The CEEP was founded in 1985 as a way of creating a peer network where endowed parishes could learn to manage their endowments effectively and to explore opportunities for greater outreach and ministry through their use. Its membership includes congregations with endowments of $1 million or more.
For more on the work of the Consortium visit http://www.endowedparishes.org/
