The Anglican chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons has suggested the Church of England could be institutionally racist because of the small numer of black or ethnic minority clergy in senior positions.
Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin was speaking out after the Church announced its first new black bishop in 20 years.
Currently, just over 3.4 per cent of all stipendiary clergy are black of ethnic minority (BME) and an even smaller proportion, 2.2 per cent of senior staff, are BME.
Besides the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, appointed in 2005, there are just five other senior BME clergy in the Church of England. They are the Dean of Manchester, Rogers Govender, Archdeacon of Southend Mina Smallman, Archdeacon of Barking John Perumbalath and Archdeacon of Hackney Liz Adekunle.
Wilfred Wood, appointed Britain's first black bishop in 1985, retired in 2003. He was bishop of Croydon, also in the Southwark diocese. Pakistan-born Michael Nazir-Ali was Bishop of Rochester from 1994 to 2009.
Even though she is regarded as one of the country's most senior clerics in terms of influence and status, Hudson-Wilkin is not included in these statistics because she is a chaplain, not a bishop, dean or archdeacon.
Hudson-Wilkin told the BBC's new religious affairs correspondent Martin Bashir the only conclusion she could draw was that the Church has been institutionally racist.
She said: "We are visible yet invisible.
"I do not believe that the Church recognises that we are there.
"With my hand on my heart, I do not believe that the Church respects and embraces its minority ethnic membership."
Asked by Bashir if she was describing the component parts of institutional racism, Hudson-Wilkin replied: "I suspect that I am."
She continued: "It's really a heavy burden to say that because that is the Church that I belong to, that is the Church that I love, but if someone else can genuinely give me another rationale as to why we are not there in senior leadership roles within the Church, then I'm prepared to consider it."
She spoke out after the hugely popular London diocesan priest, Nigeria-born Rev Woyin Karowei Dorgu, was announced yesterday as 13th Bishop of Woolwich.
He told Christian Today how God is with those suffering pain and loss in Berlin and described his personal experiences of the depradations of the Islamist terror group Boko Haram in northern Nigeria. He said: "In time of pain and difficulty, people ask the question, 'Where is God?' I often say God is with us. That's the message of Christmas. Emmanuel, God with us.
"God never abandons us in our time of trouble. In fact but for the grace of God, many more people may have been killed in Berlin yesterday.
"What I often think is that it could have been worse, but for the grace of God. So God is with us in our suffering. God bears our pain with us, he cries with us. But for his support and strength, how would we cope in difficult times?"
He acknowledged London could be a target for Islamist terrorists but added: "I think we shouldn't give place to fear. I think we should be hopeful and trusting and prayerful and be on the lookout for each other's welfare and support each other."
The Church is hiring a minority ethnic vocations officer to attract more black people into the clergy.
