Archbishop Desmond Tutu lays Mirfield monastery’s first stone

Nov 9 2009 By Dave Himelfield

Archbishop Desmond Tutu lays Mirfield monastery’s first stone

ONE of the world’s best known religious figures, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has made a special visit to Mirfield.

The Archbishop visited The College of The Resurrection at Stocks Bank Road on Saturday to consecrate a foundation stone for a new monastery planned for the site.

Senior clergy, including Bishop of Wakefield Stephen Platten and Vicar of Huddersfield Canon Catherine Ogle were also at the ceremony to unveil the stone.

The stone will be the first of a new monastery which has yet to receive planning permission from Kirklees Council.

The ceremony followed a service at the adjacent Community of the Resurrection Church, led by Archbishop Tutu.

The archbishop also spoke to men and women considering a future as priests.

The college, where clergy are trained, has longstanding links with the archbishop.

The late Trevor Huddleston, a former father of the college, who died in Mirfield in 1998, met Archbishop Tutu on a mission in South Africa during apartheid.

Fr Huddleston, a fellow equality campaigner, met young Tutu when he was parish priest in the black slum of Sophiatown, Johannesburg.

Fr Huddleston had taken off his hat to greet Tutu’s mother, which in apartheid-run South Africa was almost unheard of.

He became the young Tutu’s mentor.