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The Archbishop of York has paid flying visit to Nairobi as a sign of support for the Kenyan people.”

During their time of trouble, I have decided to come and stand in solidarity and prayer with the suffering in this land,” Dr. John Sentamu said on Feb 10 following services at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi.

Following a telephone conversation with the Primate of Kenya, Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, Dr. Sentamu flew out to Kenya on Thursday. He toured three refugee camps on the first day of his visit and on Saturday met with government ministers and the leader of the opposition, Raila Odinga.

On Feb 11 Dr. Sentamu met with President Mwai Kibaki at State House, and discussed the church’s on-going role in ending the post-election violence. More than 1000 people have been killed and over 300,000 driven from their homes in sectarian violence following Kenya’s disputed Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Dr. Sentamu urged Kenyans to “forget what is behind this and face forward. This country is capable of rising above the nonsense that has gone on.”

Following Sunday services, Dr. Sentamu told the press that a healthy democracy required a strong opposition party. “Kenyans should ensure that a strong opposition party thrives to check against possible excesses of the executive,” he said, adding that he hoped the country would not return to “one-party” rule.

The Foreign Office Minister for Africa has commended the Archbishop of York for his support of democracy in Zimbabwe. Lord Malloch-Brown (pictured) backed Dr. John Sentamu’s words on Zimbabwe, and told Parliament on Dec 17 Britain will continue to support democracy in the beleaguered African nation.

During the debate on the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon last week, the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt. Rev. Tom Butler asked whether the “cutting up of the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York’s clerical collar live on television as a protest was a helpful gesture?”

“I certainly do, my Lords; I just wish that I was bold enough to cut up my fine necktie too,” he said.

Britain’s representative to the EU-Africa summit, Lady Amos laid “out unequivocally [Zimbabwe's] disastrous economic and human rights situation” to the summit delegates. “There was no ambiguity” from Britain on this point, Lord Malloch-Brown.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government stood “four-square behind honest and fair elections in Zimbabwe. It is not enough for President Mugabe to agree to a piece of paper as a result of this mediation; he must be seen to change the laws and respect them and to allow genuinely free and fair elections”

“If those do not occur, we will in no way lessen-rather, we will increase-our objections to the Government of President Mugabe,” Lord Malloch-Brown assured Parliament.

The Archbishop of York has been savaged as a race traitor and an “ill-informed animal” by Zimbabwe following his public call for Robert Mugabe to step down.The Harare Herald, the Mugabe-regime’s media voice, on Dec 12 said Dr. John Sentamu was a “foolish and idiotic African.”

However, the archbishop’s condemnation of the President Mugabe has won plaudits from Western newspapers and the support of the Zimbabwe expatriate community and democracy activists.

The Archbishop’s pledge on Dec 9 not to wear his clergy collar so long as Mugabe remained in power was a “stunt” and a “piece of propaganda for the BBC,” the Herald stated.

Dr. Sentamu was ill informed about the conditions in Zimbabwe, the government newspaper stated. “The peasants are flourishing on the farms that President Mugabe expropriated,” it said, and are “smiling and happy.”

The Archbishop’s animus towards the regime arose from racial self-hatred and a desire to ingratiate himself with the West, the Herald said.

“Whites stand united in their fight against President Mugabe because he took back land seized from blacks by their kith and kin,” the newspaper said. “Some blacks, seeking fame and praise seem to justify this race hate by their uninformed hate for their own black brother, President Mugabe.”

“President Mugabe is our most eloquent gatekeeper” protecting the nation from the rapacious inroads of white colonialists, the Herald argued.

Democracy activists have applauded Dr. Sentamu’s show of solidarity. One exiled Anglican priest told The Church of England Newspaper that the African-born archbishop’s actions helped focus attention upon the crimes of the regime. A spokesman for the Church of England said the accusations were “ludicrous”.

Don’t blame the EU for Britain’s troubles, the Archbishop of York told the House of Lords on Dec 5.

“May we please stop blaming the EU for all our ills?” Dr. John Sentamu said during a debate on the European Council meeting in Lisbon. “We are responsible for our economic policy, education, health, security and international affairs. If those policies are not working out, please do not look over the border and blame others; what we are not doing is our own fault, because we are responsible here.”

“I call it BSE-always blaming someone else, instead of taking responsibility for ourselves,” he said.

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu has concluded his West Indian tour with a six day visit to Barbados, visiting seminarians at Codrington College and commemorating the 170^th anniversary of one of the island’s colonial parishes.

Dr. Sentamu was greeted upon arrival in Bridgetown by Bishop Wilfred Wood, the retired Bishop of Croydon and the Bishop of Barbados, Dr. John Holder. The Church of England’s first non-white domestic bishop, Bishop Wood had ordained Dr. Sentamu to the priesthood and has been a friend of some 27 years.

Bishop Wood told a Barbadian newspaper the Archbishop of York’s visit held great emotional meaning for West Indians. “We thank God for this privilege of being allowed to touch this hem of the garment of history,” he said.

In an Oct 14 service at St. Thomas parish attended by clergy and lay leaders from across the diocese, Dr. Sentamu urged the church to pursue social activism as a mark of their Christian faith. “Worship has to do with what we give” he said, warning against being Christians with “deep pockets but short arms.”

Dr. Sentamu and the Governor General of Jamaica, Kenneth Hall at King’s House in Kingston, Oct 8. (Diocese of Jamaica photo)

Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu has offered an apology to the people of Jamaica for the Church of England’s complicity in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

“Whether I like it or not, I belong to the church which participated in the transatlantic slave trade,” Dr. Sentamu said during a ceremony Saturday at the University of the West Indies in Mona where he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree.

“The actions of my forebears are my actions,” he said. “I can’t distance myself from the terrible things that the Anglican Church did to my brothers and sisters who were sold as slaves. And for that I deeply apologise.”

“In a free society, we need to remember that all are involved in the actions which some are doing; some are guilty, but all are responsible,” the Archbishop of York said on Oct 6.

Preaching at the National Arena on Sunday before a capacity crowd, Dr. Sentamu urged the congregation to pursue authenticity. “God rejoices in the fact that he created each one of you … That is the greatest message of the sermon this morning, be yourself and don’t try and be somebody else.”

Dr. Sentamu also urged the congregation to pursue humility. “When I became the bishop of Birmingham I reminded everybody else, when you see me as the bishop and looking so gorgeously dressed just remember the day Jesus entered Jerusalem, he rode on a donkey.”

The crowd in Jerusalem “dressed up that donkey to take Jesus to downtown Jerusalem”, he added. “So when you see me dressed up like a bishop in very funny clothes, I am simply a donkey taking my Jesus to downtown Birmingham.”

Bishops, he said, were “mere donkeys” whose ministry was to take “Jesus in places where there is no love where there is no hope where there is no justice.”

Dr. Sentamu is in Kingston as a guest of the Diocese of Jamaica and will spend a week on the island before traveling to Barbados. On Monday he met with Governor General Kenneth Hall and then with Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, discussing issues of regional and international concern.

The Archbishop of York has called upon the British government to impose sanctions against the “racist” regime of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe.

President Mugabe has become a second Idi Amin, Dr. John Sentamu wrote in the Observer on Sept 17, and is leading the country toward the brink of destruction.

African had failed to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe and the “time has come” for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene.  The prime minister must “slay the ghosts of Britain’s colonialist past by thoroughly revising foreign policy towards Zimbabwe and to lead the way in co-ordinating an international response” to the Mugabe regime, he said.

Dr. Sentamu’s attack follows upon statements made last week by the Bishops of Southwark and Croydon in condemning the Mugabe regime, and quiet but so far unsuccessful diplomatic efforts by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, with Anglican leaders in Central Africa to address the humanitarian crisis in the country.

Zimbabwe has blamed Britain and the West for the economic and social upheaval ravaging the country, arguing the sanctions imposed against the regime were responsible for the country’s poverty.

African leaders have backed Mugabe in a showdown with Britain over his attendance at December’s EU-Africa summit in Lisbon.  Akwasi Osei Adjei, Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, said it would be unfair to exclude Mugabe from the summit.  “I believe we are coming with all the members of the African Union, the heads of state of the African Union,” he said on Sept 13. “So, definitely the invitation will be issued [to Mugabe].”

Summit plans have been on hold since 2003 as Britain has refused to attend if Mugabe did. EU president Portugal has been seeking a compromise but has so far sent no invitations.

However, Dr. Sentamu urged an increase in pressure upon Zimbabwe.  Britain should introduce sanctions modeled upon those imposed on the apartheid regime in South Africa targeted “against those purveyors of misery whose luxury is bought at the cost of unbearable poverty,” he argued.

“Mugabe is the worst kind of racist dictator,” the Ugandan-born Archbishop wrote.

“Having targeted the whites for their apparent riches, Mugabe has enacted an awful Orwellian vision, with the once oppressed taking on the role of the oppressor and glorying in their totalitarian abilities.  Like Idi Amin before him in Uganda, Mugabe has rallied a country against its former colonial master only to destroy it through a dictatorial fervour,” he said.

Dr. Sentamu had strong words for South African President Thabo Mbeki, saying the ANC government’s diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis had failed.  “Despite his best efforts, President Mbeki has failed to help the people of Zimbabwe. At best, he has been ineffectual in his efforts to… persuade Robert Mugabe to reverse his unjust and brutal regime. At worst, Mbeki is complicit in his failing to lead the charge against a neighbour who is systematically raping the country he leads.”

THE ARCHBISHOP of York, Dr John Sentamu has been invited to Jamaica to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Dr Sentamu will be a guest of the Diocese of Jamaica and the nation from Oct 5-12 and will be awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University of the West Indies on Oct 6 at a Special Convocation at the Assembly Hall at the University’s Mona Campus, the diocese reports.

Past recipients of honorary degrees at a Special Convocation at the UWI include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Colin Powell, Harry Belafonte and Kofi Annan.

The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu has criticized the government of South African president Thabo Mbeki for failing to take decisive action over the spiraling crisis in Zimbabwe.

Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Aug 8 while in Perth, Dr. Sentamu touched upon Lords’ Reform, institutional racism in the Church of England, the 2008 Lambeth Conference, and his relations with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams-denying suggestions that he was an “Archbishop in waiting” for Canterbury.

Asked about the situation in Zimbabwe, Dr. Sentamu lauded the actions of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, saying he “has been actually fairly courageous in the things he’s been saying” in opposition to the regime of strongman Robert Mugabe.

However, the church in Zimbabwe was unable to speak with a single voice as the controversial Dr. Nolbert Kunonga, “the Anglican Bishop of Harare has tended to side more with Mugabe and therefore caused the split within the Christian community.”

Dr. Sentamu stated South Africa should take a greater role in resolving the crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe.

“South Africa could have played a major part in making sure that Mugabe over the last four years at least, does not continue telling the world that actually there isn’t any violence, there isn’t any hunger, there isn’t any starvation, because a lot of Zimbabweans are now refugees in South Africa, and it’s quite obvious that Mugabe’s regime is so brutal, that it is so dictatorial, and a lot of people are dying and starving,” he said.

The Archbishop of York denied he had designs upon Lambeth Palace and rejected press speculation that Dr. Rowan Williams might step down. “Those who say that I’m an Archbishop [of Canterbury] in waiting, I’m sorry, they’re going to be disappointed,” he said.

“The higher the baboon climbs the tree, the more it reveals its rather less attractive parts,” he observed, disclaiming any further ambitions towards higher office in the Church.

Asked about his views on institutional racism within the Church of England, Dr. Sentamu said the Church had no racist policies in effect, “but to say there is institutional racism within the church, yes, that much I’ll accept.”

He likened the climate of the Church of England to a smoke filled room. “You could go into a room when people have been smoking and there isn’t anybody you can see in sight who’s smoking, and you know there has been smoking. That’s what I call institutional racism: you know there are some behaviors that are unacceptable, but you can’t quite pinpoint anybody who’s done it,” he said.

Dr. Sentamu repeated comments made to the Daily Telegraph last month that there was a danger that those who would sit out the 2008 Lambeth Conference were risking exclusion from the Anglican Communion. It was necessary to attend Lambeth, he said, so as to take the Anglican Covenant process forward and find a lasting solution to the current crisis of doctrine and discipline within the Anglican Communion.

He rejected suggestions that a reformed House of Lords exclude the “Lords Spiritual”. Bishops could only be excluded from the Lords, he argued, if the monarchy and the Church of England were disestablished. The role of the Bishops in the House of Lords was “to hold up before the nation the need for God and the need for spiritual dimensions of life,” he said.

The Archbishop of York has urged conservative bishops from the Global South not to boycott next year’s Lambeth Conference, telling the Daily Telegraph their withdrawal could shatter the Anglican Communion.

“Anglicanism has its roots through Canterbury,” he said last week. “If you sever that link you are severing yourself from the Communion. There is no doubt about it.”

Dr. John Sentamu’s caution comes after leaders of the Global South Coalition of Anglican provinces, representing a majority of Anglicans in the developing world, released a statement last week following a meeting in London warning that their presence at Lambeth 2008 was in doubt, due to Archbishop Rowan Williams apparent decision not to take action against the American Church for repudiating the primates’ calls for reform and for compliance with the 1998 Lambeth resolutions on human sexuality.

If the Global South breaks with Dr. Williams, “and they think they can then say they are Anglicans, that is very questionable,” he said, urging traditionalists to “come to the Lambeth Conference.”

A spokesman for Lambeth Palace told The Church of England Newspaper Dr. Sentamu was not speaking on behalf of Dr. Williams, but offering his own reflections on current events within the Communion.

As long as Anglican bishops did not deny basic Christian doctrines they should be able to remain within the same ecclesial structure, he said. While the divisions over sexual ethics were important, the Telegraph reported that Dr. Sentamu believed these were not core issues of the faith.

Writing in the preamble to the July General Synod paper 1661 on the Anglican Covenant, Dr. Sentamu noted that fragmentation within the Communion was being driven by the divisions over human sexuality. “We have to recognize that there are some limits to Anglican ‘diversity’,” the Archbishops wrote.

“It is a simply a matter of fact that some questions - not only the debates over sexual ethics - are experienced as fundamentally Church-dividing issues,” they said.

Dr. Sentamu added that the current invitation list was not fixed. He stated the American bishops could be un-invited from Lambeth 2008 should they not be prepared to engage with the wider Church over the potentially Communion-dividing issues.

Leaders of the Global South coalition tell CEN no hard and fast decision to boycott Lambeth 2008 has been taken. They have called for an emergency primates meeting, akin to the meeting held following the election of Gene Robinson in 2003, to address the American question.

Nor are the Global South primates of one mind as to how to respond to what they see as American intransigence. One faction favors withdrawal from Lambeth if all the Americans attend, while a second group is disinclined to give the left a “rump” Lambeth that could conceivably re-write prior Conference statements.

The Archbishop of York has urged Anglican bishops from the Global South not to boycott next year’s Lambeth Conference, telling a British newspaper that by withdrawing they would be removing themselves from the Anglican Communion.

“Anglicanism has its roots through Canterbury,” Archbishop Sentamu said as reported by the Daily Telegraph. “If you sever that link, you are severing yourself from the Communion. There is no doubt about it.”

Read it all in The Living Church.

A Kampala newspaper has reported that the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu along with Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, is among the seven candidates nominated to serve as chancellor of Makere University.

New Visions reported on June 26 that Dr. Sentamu had been nominated for the Ugandan university’s top non-administrative post, whose duties include presiding over graduation ceremonies and receiving awards on behalf of the university.

Dr. Sentamu is a 1971 law graduate of the University. The chancellor is required to be a Ugandan citizen, aged 55 to 75, holding an earned university degree, and possessing “high integrity and standing.”

Primates gathered in the VIP lounge at the Dar es Salaam airport on Feb 13 following the arrival of Archbishop Williams and his party from London. From left to right, the Most Rev. Donald Mtetemela, Archbishop of Tanzania, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Andrew Hutchison, Archbishop of Canada, the Most Rev. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. Canterbury, York, Canada and their aides were on the same BA flight to Dar es Salaam from London, along with the Archbishops of Ireland, Scotland and Brazil.

This photo first appeared in The Church of England Newspaper.