May 19, 2010

Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu will deliver a special address on Thursday, May 20 at 1 p.m. CST to the four city bid teams for the 2014 Parliament of the World's Religions, welcoming them to the bid process and emphasizing the impact that hosting the parliament can have on their cities.

Tutu will appear via a live video stream from Cape Town, South Africa, which hosted the 1999 Parliament of the World Religions.

The four participating bid cities for the 2014 parliament are Brussels, Belgium; Dallas, Texas, USA; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Guadalajara, Mexico.

Tutu's address takes place as part of the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative and the launch of the Charter for Compassion in South Africa. Karen Armstrong, renowned religious scholar and featured speaker at the 2009 parliament in Melbourne, will also speak via a pre-recorded address from Cape Town.

The Rev. Dirk Ficca, executive director of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, reflecting on Tutu's long-standing support of the parliament, said, "Since his extraordinary leadership in the effort to dismantle apartheid in South Africa, Archbishop Tutu has been an icon of the interreligious movement. With the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994, Desmond Tutu has been in the forefront of the ongoing task to create a more just and equitable society in South Africa. Like Archbishop Tutu, we are immensely proud of the role the 1999 Cape Town parliament played in this historic process of national reconciliation."

Tutu's address is available online at http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/.

Parliament of World Religions