Archbishop Tutu honored at Marquette
MILWAUKEE - Archbishop Desmond Tutu's work to not only end South Africa's apartheid system but also maintain peace after its fall drew praise from across the world. Tutu was honored nearly two decades ago at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
Tutu became just the sixth person since 1969 to receive the Pere Marquette Discovery Award, the university's highest honor for those who achieve an extraordinary breakthrough in advancing humanity. Shortly after, Marquette created a study abroad program in South Africa, where students and faculty shared experiences with Tutu firsthand.
In the eyes of those who knew him, Archbishop Tutu never gave into fear.
"He's probably one of the most extraordinary people I've ever met," said Robert Deahl.
Deahl formed a relationship with Tutu, first as a Catholic priest in Capetown, South Africa, where Tutu used his pulpit to advocate for Black, mixed-race and Indian South Africans, all suffering during the apartheid.
"It was always his courage and his purpose to go where people hurt most and give them hope," said Deahl.
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After the apartheid's end in 1990, then-President Nelson Mandela chose Tutu to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, work that would ultimately lead to his Nobel Peace Prize.
"Both victim and victimizer would come to reconcile with each other and make peace, rather than bloodshed," said Deahl.
That's what brought Tutu to Marquette. He received the university's highest honor in 2003 for breakthrough work that advanced humanity. Deahl then grew closer to Tutu as the university's dean of the College of Professional Services, helping develop a study-abroad program in South Africa for students to learn from someone he calls one of the most important people of the 20th century.
"There was such an opportunity for combining the sense of social justice, student leadership, service to people and their studies for our studies, and who better to exemplify that than Desmond Tutu?" said Deahl.
Deahl says Tutu would always make time for Marquette students studying abroad in South Africa. He says that experience alone has been life-changing for so many.
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