Campaigning black bishop on shortlist for York job |
| Written by yorkguides.co.uk | |
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Paul Jeeves A BLACK bishop who has campaigned to end the white middle-class domination of the Church of England is on a shortlist to become the new Archbishop of York, it has emerged. Yorkshire Post Bishop John Sentamu is understood to be one of five candidates being considered for the second highest office in the Church. It has remained vacant since Dr David Hope retired from the post at the end of February. Bishop Sentamu has been a tireless campaigner to end gun crime in his present diocese of Birmingham and might not appear an obvious frontrunner to take over at York Minster but his appointment would be seen as giving the Church an in-jection of credibility among ethnic minorities and the millions of Anglicans in Africa would welcome it. The Church's Crown Nominations Commission is believed to have drawn up the shortlist of candidates after a meeting at Ampleforth Abbey last month. Speculation has been mounting for several months that Bishop Sentamu could be heading north to Yorkshire. But he has not hesitated in the past to criticise the Church's white-dominated upper echelons. He carried out a survey published in 1996 that revealed out of 11,000 clergy only 92 were from ethnic minorities. He said at the time: "Its (the Church's) organisational culture is still socially glued together by a culture that is monochrome – that is, white." Bishop Sentamu has himself been stopped and searched by police in London, and helped to write the report for the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, which described the Metropolitan Police as "institutionally racist". He is well regarded in Downing Street and was also part of the independent inquiry into the death of Damilola Taylor, the black schoolboy murdered in south London. Born in 1949 in Uganda, one of 13 children, Bishop Sentamu studied law and became a judge. But criticism of Idi Amin's regime for its violation of human rights and a decision to ignore orders not to jail his soldiers led to his arrest and subsequent departure to this country in 1974. He studied theology at Cambridge University before being ordained as a deacon and priest in 1979. He became the Bishop of Birmingham in November 2002. Martin Sheppard, spokes-man for the Diocese of York, yesterday declined to comment on the growing speculation as to who will be the next archbishop. Two names from the shortlist of candidates have been reportedly sent to Tony Blair, but it is not known if Bishop Sentamu is one of them. Others on the list are thought to include Bishop of Norwich Graham James, Bishop of Exeter Michael Langrish, Bishop of Manchester Nigel McCulloch, and Bishop of Durham Tom Wright. Yesterday Bishop Sentamu stressed he had not been involved in any part of the selection process and added: "This is a matter for the Church and the State. I am not involved in the Crown Nominations Commission and therefore I cannot comment on matters outside of my remit." A Church spokesman also refused to be drawn on disc-ussing who will be appointed. The spokesman said: "There is nothing to comm-ent on until Downing Street announces the name of the nominee later this year." Dr Hope, the Wakefield-born son of a builder, is now a parish priest at Ilkley. |
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