The Church of England today will celebrate the appointment of its first black archbishop at York Minister. The celebration is expected to include a wave of sounds and colour as John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu is officially inaugurated into his new position.
Dr Sentamu will become the 97th Archbishop of York in history, and the ceremony will conclude a series of events this year that have brought the Ugandan-born cleric to the position as the Church’s second in command.A speedy and dramatic climb through the ecclesiastical hierarchy has seen Dr Sentamu elected by the York Minister’s college of canons earlier this year in July.
Stepping down from the position this year was Dr David Hope, who resigned after a ten-year period as Archbishop of York to return to the life of a parish priest in St Margaret’s Church in Ilkley.
An African-flavour will be brought to the event today as it has been scheduled for Dr Sentamu to make his way along the River Ouse by riverboat into the city centre where he will be met by a team of African drummers.
The new Archbishop has already acknowledged that the Church is currently in a “trough”, and he has very much been chosen into his new position with a commission to unite the Church of England once again with the English society.
As society has changed over recent decades, the Church of England has found it hard to adapt itself, resulting in a drop in Church attendances. It is likely that the Church will see this inauguration of the new Archbishop as the opening of a new era of its history, and will hoping that renewed life can be injected into its ministries.Today’s grand ceremony will see more than 3,500 invited guests flock to York Minster, with the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, Dr Rowan Williams set to attend.
The ceremony will see Dr Sentamu wash the feet of three children, an action symbolising the action of Jesus and his disciples.
Archbishop Sentamu was born in rural Uganda, and spent 4 years of his ministry in Cambridge and Richmond and 14 years in inner city parishes in South London, 6 years as Bishop for Stepney and 3 years as Bishop for Birmingham.
He has also served on the General Synod and its Standing Committee and other bodies, being involved in the work of the Archbishop’s Commission on Urban Priority Areas, the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns, the Decade of Evangelism Steering Group, as well as the Archbishops’ evangelism initiative, Springboard.
The Lord Mayor of York will lead a civic procession through the city before the service begins at 1130 GMT.
