SENTAMU TO RETIRE
Sentamu to retire in the summer of 2020 after Queen grants Archbishop a special one-year extension
THE Archbishop of York after he confirmed that he will retire in June 2020 after nearly 15 years in the role. Dr John Sentamu was praised on Twitter, one of his favourite forms of communication, for being ‘like a breath of fresh air’.
IT IS perhaps fitting that Twitter provided the most personal tributes to the Archbishop of York after he confirmed that he will retire in June 2020 after nearly 15 years in the role.
This, after all, is the social media platform that Dr John Sentamu deployed to popular acclaim to “beseech” England’s footballers to keep their cool and composure during this summer’s World Cup or celebrate the many successes of Yorkshire’s Olympians and Paralympians.
And it is the forum which the Ugandan-born cleric, 69, used so adeptly – he has over 70,000 Twitter followers – to take the Church’s message of hope to the people in his own inimitable way.
“God bless you. You have been like a breath of fresh air to me,” posted one worshipper. “No one can go on forever but you will be missed, I love hearing you speak,” said another person. And another tweeted: “A remarkable guy. Until he got the job I didn’t (realise) there was an Archbishop of York.”
Just three out of countless tweets, they epitomise the Archbishop’s empathy with his adopted county – he had previously served in London and Birmingham – and his uncanny ability to reflect the emotions of ordinary people.
He’s not been afraid to make great gestures and gave early warning that he would be an unorthodox Archbishop when, in December 2007, he tore up his dog collar on national television in protest at the tyrant Robert Mugabe’s inhumanity in Zimbabwe – and refused to wear it again until the dictator had been deposed.
However, while Dr Sentamu, and the rest of the civilised world, had to endure 10 years before Mugabe was overthrown, it never once deterred him from his mission and work. An unconventional – and informal – Archbishop, he continues to display newspaper photographs of Claudia Lawrence, the missing York chef, and Madeleine McCann, the toddler who vanished during a family holiday to Portugal over a decade ago, in his private chapel as he prays for them, and their families, each day.
And, while Dr Sentamu has overseen great tumult in the Church of England since his enthronement in 2005, including the consecration of the Rev Libby Lane as the Church’s first female bishop, he has become an adopted Yorkshireman like no other.
From a six-month pilgrimage, resplendent in his flat cap, to every corner of the Diocese of York to using his office – and influence – to drive forward the One Yorkshire devolution campaign in the hope that this county will elect its first mayor in 2020, he will continue with this work until he retires on June 7, 2020, three days before his 71st birthday.
Given past convention dictates that Archbishops retire by the time of their 70th birthday, Dr Sentamu had to receive special dispensation from the Queen to extend his tenureship by a year and, hopefully, facilitate a smooth transition when his successor is appointed.
He also intends to extend the work of his acclaimed Young Leaders Award Programme. “I will be retiring from my post as Archbishop of York in June 2020,” he said in a statement.
“I have decided to announce my retirement now in order to provide the Church of England with the widest possible timeframe to pray, discern with wisdom and insight and put in place a timetable for my successor and to consider fully the work they will be called to do in service to the national church, the Northern Province and the Diocese of York.
“I am deeply grateful to Her Majesty The Queen for graciously allowing me to continue as Archbishop of York until June 2020 in order to enable me to complete the work to which I have been called. I am full of joy and expectation to see all that God is doing and will be doing in this diocese and in the Northern Province over the coming months.”
And then, typically, he took to Twitter to wish his followers “every blessing”.
God bless you. You have been like a breath of fresh air to me. Message from a worshipper to Dr John Sentamu.
JOHN SENTAMU’S journey from Uganda to God’s own county to become the 97th Archbishop of York was unprecedented in the long history of the Church of England. Equally unparalleled, however, is how this force of nature then stamped his own personality on this historic role.
An inspirational – and often incorrigible – man of the people, he has brought hope to many after helping to reconnect the Church with the people that it serves and he will be a very hard act to follow when he retires in 2020 nearly 15 years after being enthroned in York Minster to the unforgettable sound of African drums and dancers.
He used his position to highlight the tyranny of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe – Dr Sentamu famously tore off his clerical collar on national television and refused to wear it until the dictator had left office. He held vigils praying for peace in the Middle East.
He also led the Church through a period of immense change, culminating with a moment of history when he consecrated the Anglican Church’s first female bishop, Reverend Libby Lane, at York Minster.
And he’s become a much respected campaigner on social issues, most recently in an impassioned plea in The Yorkshire Post last weekend, imploring Ministers to think again about the implementation of Universal Credit.
Yet it is his interaction with ordinary people – whether it be on his pilgrimages, spontaneous exchanges in the street or youth work – which defined Dr Sentamu as an Archbishop like no other.
Not only did he take the Church to the community, but he has also committed to himself to advancing the One Yorkshire devolution agenda, a mission he’s determined to fulfil by the time that he retires. Blessed by the support of a loving family, and a supportive team at Bishopthorpe Palace, he will always be celebrated here as an adopted Yorkshireman of the highest order whose very presence continues to inspire and offer hope.