[First published in “MARYKNOLL” magazine.]

AS A JOURNALIST REPORTING on the long struggle to defeat apartheid in South Africa, I frequently interviewed Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the 1980s and 1990s.

During one of those interviews, not long after Nelson Mandela had been released from prison … I asked the archbishop how it was that Mandela not only seemed capable of putting behind him the brutalization he had suffered at the hands of his jailers for much of his 27 years of captivity, but also showed every sign of guiding all his country’s citizenry through a transition to democracy without violent recrimination or revenge.

Tutu said I should not be surprised at the fortuitous way that events seemed to be heading – and indeed as they turned out, when South Africa’s journey of reconciliation did eventually
prove to be a modern marvel for the world. There had been times when that outcome was far from certain, for instance an especially tense period I witnessed when political murders were occurring at the rate of ten per day. I asked Tutu why he had such confidence in Mandela’s
stewardship. “David,” the archbishop said, “you must never underestimate the power of prayer.”

I had spent much of the previous decade interviewing many of Mandela’s friends and supporters, including his then-wife and his personal physician, and had inquired quite searchingly into Mandela’s overall philosophy of life. “I know for a fact that Mandela is not a praying man, Archbishop,” I said confidently. “I don’t believe he’s even a Christian.”

Tutu was shaking his head and smiling by now. “I was not talking about Nelson,” he chided me. “There have been millions of people around the world praying for him, and for a peaceful outcome to the struggle.”

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NOTE: This short piece appeared as a side-bar to a fuller, 2008 interview with Archbishop Tutu published in MARYKNOLL magazine in its January 2008 issue.

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