AMONG THE SAVAGES:

A cleric's journey: from Idi Amin's Uganda to York (Stephen Bates, June 18, 2005, The Guardian)

If racegoers catching a lunchtime train to the Royal Ascot races at York yesterday noticed a short, slight, clerical passenger squeezed into the last available second-class seat in a smoking compartment, they probably did not realise quite what a seismic event they were witnessing for the Church of England. John Sentamu, the church's first black archbishop, was on his way to visit his new province.

The Ugandan-born Sentamu, 56 - currently Bishop of Birmingham - was named yesterday by Downing Street, in the quaint tradition of senior appointments in the established church, as the new Archbishop of York. He will become Primate of England and Metropolitan, second ranking bishop in the Church of England and overseer of the 14 dioceses from Carlisle to the Midlands.

Yesterday, the new archbishop designate, in keeping with his evangelical roots, vowed nothing less than to re-energise the Church of England and convert the population to Christ. In remarks strikingly contrasting with those of the smooth white men who usually gain preferment, he said: "It is imperative that the Church regains her vision and confidence in mission, developing ways that will enable the Church of England to reconnect imaginatively with England." [...]

He fulfils the relatively recent tradition of having an evangelical in charge of York to complement a High Church Anglican at Canterbury and vice-versa and meets the stipulation of the York diocese that they wanted a theologically conservative figure.

Married with two grown-up children, he follows David Hope, the ascetic bachelor archbishop who announced his early retirement last year in order to return to being a parish priest in Ilkley.

Sentamu will move from the comfortable suburban villa of bishops of Birmingham into the partly medieval if somewhat scruffy splendour of Bishopthorpe Palace on the banks of the Ouse outside York, a stone's throw from the starting gates on the nearby racecourse.

More to the point as far as the Anglican communion, bitterly divided over homosexuality, is concerned, his appointment to balance the more liberal Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, may temporarily mollify African primates muttering grimly about setting up new structures of authority to bypass the more tolerant North American and British churches. The new archbishop takes a conservative, orthodox stance on the issue, and yesterday called on the fractious church not to split: "I hope the communion will rediscover holy conversation. It is not the Christian way to stand on the banks of the river shouting. I don't believe that is the way of Jesus."

The current Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi - a hardliner on the gay issue - greeted the announcement saying: "We are jubilant at the news of our fellow countryman's appointment ... he was forced to go into exile. Like the biblical patriarch Joseph, what was meant for evil, God has now used for good."

The new archbishop said yesterday: "My late parents always said to me whenever you meet a group of people who may be interested in hearing what you have to say, always tell them how grateful we are for the missionaries who risked their lives to bring the good news of God's salvation to Uganda. It is because of that missionary endeavour that I am standing in front of you. A fruit of their risk-taking and love."

Only fair that the mission work flow the other way now that the Heart of Darkness has shifted North.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 17, 2005 8:29 PM