I promised to post something about Trevor Huddleston as we read Chapter 2 of Christian Social Witness (Harold T. Lewis).
I'm not sure when I became aware of Fr. Huddleston's work in South Africa. As a family we had some interest in that part of the world. An uncle of my mother's had emigrated to South Africa in 1910, so she had cousins in Capetown. My father was a staunch union member and the Trades Union Congress was an early supporter of the anti-apartheid movement. As early as 1952, Canon John Collins (St. Paul's Cathedral) and his Christian Action group were raising money to support the families and dependants of African National Congress members already imprisoned by the South African government. By the time Fr. Huddleston returned from his work in S. Africa in 1956, the struggle of the African National Congress was well known by most people in the United Kingdom
Using material from Wikipedia. org, I will add some material expanding Huddleston's story beyond the brief mention he has in Christian Social Witness.
Brief Biography
"Born in Bedford, England, he was educated at Lancing College, Christ Church, Oxford and at Wells Theological College. He joined the Anglican religious order, the Community of the Resurrection (CR) in 1939, having already served for two years as a curate at St. Mark's, Swindon.
"In 1943, he went to the CR mission station at Rosettenville, Sophiatown (Johannesburg, South Africa). He was sent there to build on the work of Raymond Raines CR, whose monumental efforts there had proved to be so demanding that the Community summoned him back to Mirfield in order to recuperate. Raines was deeply concerned about who should be appointed to succeed him. He met Huddleston (at that stage still a novice in the Community) who had been appointed to nurse him while he was in the infirmary. As a result of that meeting, much to Huddleston's surprise, Raines was convinced that he had found his successor.
"Over the course of the next 13 years in Sophiatown, Huddleston developed into a much-loved priest and respected anti-Apartheid activist, earning him the nickname Makhalipile ("dauntless one"). He fought tirelessly against the vicious Apartheid laws. In 1955, the ANC gave him the rare honour of bestowing on him the title "Isitwalandwe", at the famous Freedom Congress in Kliptown.
"His order asked him to return to England in 1956, where he worked as the Master of Novices at the CR's Mirfield mother house (West Yorkshire) for a few years. He was consecrated Bishop of Masasi (Tanzania) in 1960, where he worked for eight years, before becoming Bishop of Stepney (a Suffragan bishop in the Diocese of London).[1] After ten years in England, he was appointed Bishop of Mauritius (1978), and was then elected Archbishop of the Province of the Indian Ocean.
"After his retirement from episcopal office in 1983 he started anti-Apartheid work outside of South Africa, having become President of the Anti-Apartheid movement in 1981.
"In 1994 received high honours from Tanzania (Torch of Kilimanjaro), and was awarded the Indira Gandhi Award for Peace, Disarmament, and Development. In the 1998 New Year Honours he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)."
Tribute paid to the memory of Trevor Huddleston, C.R. by The ANC
STATEMENT OF THE ANC SECRETARY GENERAL
ON THE DEATH OF ISITHWALANDWE-SEAPARANKOE TREVOR HUDDLESTON
"It is with a profound sense of loss that the African National Congress has learnt of the death of Archbishop Trevor Huddleston.
"Father Huddleston, as he was fondly known by millions of South Africans, will be sadly missed not only within the ANC and the broader liberation movement, but throughout the country to which he gave so much of his life.
"It was a measure of Father Huddleston's enormous contribution to the struggle for democracy in South Africa, that the ANC awarded him the highest honour of the movement, Isithwalandwe-Seaparankoe.
"Even after he left South Africa, Father Huddleston was a central figure in the mobilisation of world opinion against the apartheid government, and must be credited in large part for the success of the global campaign for democracy in South Africa.
"Father Huddleston will be remembered as a humble person of profound integrity and firm conviction. His commitment to the upliftment of the oppressed, and his role in the liberation of South Africa will live on in the hearts and minds of our people.
"As we bid a fond farewell to Father Trevor Huddleston, we salute him as a person, a leader, a comrade and a friend whose commitment to the people of this country never wavered throughout a life of struggle and service."
Issued by: Kgalema Motlanthe
Secretary General
21 April, 1998
African National Congress, PO Box 61884, PO Box 61884, Marshalltown 2107
Statement from Nelson Mandela on the death of Trevor Huddleston, C.R.
MANDELA PAYS TRIBUTE TO FATHER TREVOR HUDDLESTON
PRETORIA, 20 April 1998, Sapa
Father Trevor Huddleston was a pillar of wisdom, humility and sacrifice to legions of freedom fighters in the darkest moments of the struggle against apartheid, President Nelson Mandela said on Monday.
Mandela, in a statement from his office, was paying tribute to Huddleston, 84, who died in Mirfield, northern England on Monday.
"It is humbling for an ordinary mortal like myself to express the deep sense of loss one feels at the death of so great and venerable figure as Father Trevor Huddleston," Mandela said.
At a time when identifying with the cause of equality for all South Africans was seen as the height of betrayal by the privileged, Huddleston embraced the downtrodden.
"He forsook all that apartheid South Africa offered the privileged minority. And he did so at great risk to his personal safety and well-being.
"On behalf of the people of South Africa and anti-apartheid campaigners across the world, I convey my deepest condolences to his Church, his friends and his colleagues."
Mandela said Huddleston belonged to that category of men and women who made the world the theatre of their pursuit of freedom and justice.
"He brought hope, sunshine and comfort to the poorest of the poor. He was not only a leader in the fight against oppression. He was also father and mentor to many leaders of the liberation movement, most of whom now occupy leading positions in all spheres of public life in our country.
"His memory will live in the hearts of our people," said Mandela.
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