August 9, 2005

NEW YORK – Visible construction has now begun on the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Education Center, located in one of New York City's fastest-growing commercial areas.

The $23 million project, now being created in three landmark buildings along Tenth Avenue, will provide new facilities for programs in continuing education, peace and reconciliation, interfaith relations, and Christian spirituality.

Established and administered by General Theological Seminary (GTS,) the Tutu Center is scheduled to open in 2007, bringing a new range of activities-and fresh, gardenlike beauty-to an increasingly bustling neighborhood.

Physically and programmatically, the Center expresses a more outgoing presence in the city for GTS and its historic grounds, known as the Close. Built on land donated to GTS in the 1820s by Clement Clarke Moore (the poet of "‘Twas the night before Christmas,") the Close took shape in 1883-1902 and is the oldest extant collegiate quadrangle in New York City. The Close has long been accessible to the public, and its centerpiece, the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, welcomes all worshippers but with the Tutu Center, the seminary will reach out to the city as never before.

Named in honor of the Archbishop of Cape Town, who was a visiting professor at GTS when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, the Tutu Center will provide a home for GTS' Center for Christian Spirituality and the Center for Jewish-Christian Studies and Relations-and for two new programs, the Center for Peace and Reconciliation and the Center for Continuing Education.

Episcopal News Service