he daughter of the late Desmond Tutuc has reportedly been banned from conducting her godfather’s funeral by the Church of England because she is married to a woman.
Mpho Tutu van Furth, a practicing Anglican priest in the US, was asked to attend Martin Kenyon’s funeral on Thursday in Shropshire.
In a statement worn by the BBCThe Diocese of Hereford said: “Advice was given in accordance with current House of Bishops guidelines on same-sex marriage.”
Ms Tutu van Furth is said to have told the broadcaster that the decision “seemed very rude and hurtful”.
After Kenyon’s family was informed of the church’s decision, the funeral service was moved to a marquee in the rectory next to St Michael and All Angels in Wentnor, near Bishops Gate, so that Mrs Tutu of Furth could preach , reports the BBC.
“It’s incredibly sad,” Ms Tutu van Furth told the broadcaster. “It feels like a bureaucratic response with perhaps a lack of compassion.
“It seemed really rude and hurtful to me. But as sad as that was, there was the joy of a celebration of a person who could throw open the door to people who are sometimes left out.”
The Church of England does not allow same-sex marriage in its clergy, but the Episcopal Church in the US – of which Mrs Tutu van Furth is a member – does.
Her driver’s license was revoked in South Africa when she revealed her sexuality and married Marceline van Furth, a Dutch academic, in 2015.
Hair 91 year old London godfather Martin Kenyon became a “national treasure” for overnight an honest conversation he did after he was one of the first to receive the coronavirus vaccine in 2020.
Her Father Archbishop Desmond Tutu died aged 90 in 2021. Tribute was led by the Queen for the Nobel Peace Prize winner and veteran of South Africa’s struggle against white minority rule.
Archbishop Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his nonviolent struggle against apartheid.
He was named Cape Town’s first black Archbishop in 1986 and became the head of the Anglican Church, the fourth largest in South Africa.
The Archbishop held the post until 1996.