UK's first black archbishop ordained
Staff and agencies
Wednesday November 30, 2005
Dr John Sentamu leaves York Minster after his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York. Photograph: Don McPhee
Britain's first black archbishop was today inaugurated at York Minster to the rhythm of African drummers and a traditional dance of rejoicing.
Dr John Sentamu was enthroned as the 97th Archbishop of York during a ceremony that combined his Ugandan roots with traditional Church of England protocol.
The former judge travelled into the city from his official residence, Bishopthorpe Palace, by boat along the River Ouse, accompanied by a team of African drummers. He then walked through the streets to the Minster to begin the service.
The ceremony in the historic cathedral was watched by 3,000 guests, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
Dr Sentamu washed the feet of three children during the ceremony, mirroring the actions of Jesus with his disciples.
After his enthronement, he was presented to the congregation to the sounds of a Ugandan celebration song, while 20 dancers, wearing headdresses of red, white and black feathers, leopardskin print skirts and T-shirts performed the Bwola dance.
The new archbishop wore his own choice of costume for the ceremony - a brightly coloured, specially designed cope and mitre based on a picture, called The Tree of Life, hanging in his private chapel in Birmingham.
The sixth of 13 children, 56-year-old Dr Sentamu was born and educated in Uganda, where he became a barrister and then a high court judge. He was forced to flee his homeland after speaking out against the tyrannical regime of the brutal dictator Idi Amin.
Dr Sentamu refused to acquit one of the president's cousins of a crime, and after the then archbishop of Uganda, Janani Luwum, was murdered, he allegedly vowed: "You kill my friend, I take his place."
He escaped to the UK in 1974 and studied theology at Cambridge before being ordained in 1979. After serving in a succession of London parishes, he was appointed as Bishop of Stepney in 1996 and Bishop of Birmingham in 2002.
Dr Sentamu, who has two grown-up children with his wife, Margaret, succeeds Dr David Hope, who resigned after 10 years to become a parish priest, as Archbishop of York. His appointment was announced in June this year and was officially confirmed last month.
His path to becoming the second highest religious leader in England has not been easy. He has been stopped and searched by the police eight times in six years, and in October this year was sent anonymous hate mail containing human excrement.
Dr Sentamu served as an adviser to the inquiry into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence, and was also the chairman of the official review following the murder of Damilola Taylor.
He led a campaign in Birmingham to root out the black gun gangs responsible for the shootings of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare in 2003.
Stephen Bates, the Guardian's religious affairs correspondent, said Dr Sentamu's appointment had come at a pivotal time.
"The church and the worldwide communion are poised on the brink of a schism revolving in very large part around issues of modern morality - specifically the place of homosexuals in the clergy, but also the ordination of women and their promotion to the episcopacy," he said.
In an interview earlier this year, Dr Sentamu said he would be happy to ordain women bishops if the Church of England changed its rules to allow it. He has also condemned the way in which some members of the Anglican community had spoken about homosexuals.
The cleric recently launched a forceful attack on multiculturalism which, he argued, has denied English people the right to celebrate their national identity.
During his inauguration ceremony, Dr Sentamu said the Church of England should once again become a "beacon" by which the people of England could navigate in an "unknown ocean".
"Having shed an empire and lost a missionary zeal, has this great nation and mother of parliamentary democracy also lost a noble vision for the future?" he asked. "We are getting richer and richer as a nation, but less and less happy."
He warned that England would experience further political extremism if it failed to reconnect with its roots.
guardian.co.uk
Staff and agencies
Wednesday November 30, 2005
Dr John Sentamu leaves York Minster after his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York. Photograph: Don McPhee
Britain's first black archbishop was today inaugurated at York Minster to the rhythm of African drummers and a traditional dance of rejoicing.
Dr John Sentamu was enthroned as the 97th Archbishop of York during a ceremony that combined his Ugandan roots with traditional Church of England protocol.
The former judge travelled into the city from his official residence, Bishopthorpe Palace, by boat along the River Ouse, accompanied by a team of African drummers. He then walked through the streets to the Minster to begin the service.
The ceremony in the historic cathedral was watched by 3,000 guests, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
Dr Sentamu washed the feet of three children during the ceremony, mirroring the actions of Jesus with his disciples.
After his enthronement, he was presented to the congregation to the sounds of a Ugandan celebration song, while 20 dancers, wearing headdresses of red, white and black feathers, leopardskin print skirts and T-shirts performed the Bwola dance.
The new archbishop wore his own choice of costume for the ceremony - a brightly coloured, specially designed cope and mitre based on a picture, called The Tree of Life, hanging in his private chapel in Birmingham.
The sixth of 13 children, 56-year-old Dr Sentamu was born and educated in Uganda, where he became a barrister and then a high court judge. He was forced to flee his homeland after speaking out against the tyrannical regime of the brutal dictator Idi Amin.
Dr Sentamu refused to acquit one of the president's cousins of a crime, and after the then archbishop of Uganda, Janani Luwum, was murdered, he allegedly vowed: "You kill my friend, I take his place."
He escaped to the UK in 1974 and studied theology at Cambridge before being ordained in 1979. After serving in a succession of London parishes, he was appointed as Bishop of Stepney in 1996 and Bishop of Birmingham in 2002.
Dr Sentamu, who has two grown-up children with his wife, Margaret, succeeds Dr David Hope, who resigned after 10 years to become a parish priest, as Archbishop of York. His appointment was announced in June this year and was officially confirmed last month.
His path to becoming the second highest religious leader in England has not been easy. He has been stopped and searched by the police eight times in six years, and in October this year was sent anonymous hate mail containing human excrement.
Dr Sentamu served as an adviser to the inquiry into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence, and was also the chairman of the official review following the murder of Damilola Taylor.
He led a campaign in Birmingham to root out the black gun gangs responsible for the shootings of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare in 2003.
Stephen Bates, the Guardian's religious affairs correspondent, said Dr Sentamu's appointment had come at a pivotal time.
"The church and the worldwide communion are poised on the brink of a schism revolving in very large part around issues of modern morality - specifically the place of homosexuals in the clergy, but also the ordination of women and their promotion to the episcopacy," he said.
In an interview earlier this year, Dr Sentamu said he would be happy to ordain women bishops if the Church of England changed its rules to allow it. He has also condemned the way in which some members of the Anglican community had spoken about homosexuals.
The cleric recently launched a forceful attack on multiculturalism which, he argued, has denied English people the right to celebrate their national identity.
During his inauguration ceremony, Dr Sentamu said the Church of England should once again become a "beacon" by which the people of England could navigate in an "unknown ocean".
"Having shed an empire and lost a missionary zeal, has this great nation and mother of parliamentary democracy also lost a noble vision for the future?" he asked. "We are getting richer and richer as a nation, but less and less happy."
He warned that England would experience further political extremism if it failed to reconnect with its roots.
guardian.co.uk
