Face your misdeeds
Published:Monday | January 30, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Archbishop of York says church leaders who betray trust should must take responsibility for actions
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
THE INFLUENTIAL archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, is of the view that one the challenges bedevilling the Church is the failure of leaders to accept responsibility for misdeeds.
In an interview with The Gleaner last week, Archbishop Sentamu argued that if the Church is to move forward, errant religious leaders are required to seize the opportunity to own up to their transgressions instead of indulging in pointless blame games whenever contraventions are exposed.
"I believe that anyone in leadership is in a position of trust and to betray that trust requires a greater acknowledgement than just saying I have messed up, and I am going to try to earn forgiveness from the community that I have wronged," asserted the high-ranking cleric in the Church of England.
Only the archbishop of Canterbury is higher on the hierarchy of the Anglican structure than the archbishop of York.
A Ugandan by birth, Sentamu is the 97th archbishop of York.
He lamented that whenever people commit wrong, they tended to blame something or somebody else.
'Blame someone else'
Sentamu likened the tendency to shift blame to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which is commonly known as mad-cow disease.
"I said human beings have also caught the same disease - 'blame someone else', don't take ownership, don't take responsibility, divert it and say it is they 'they, they, they'," said Sentamu.
The archbishop of York contended that when church leaders fail, the public needs to remember that they are human beings.
"They need compassion, but in order for them to move on, they need to acknowledge that they have done wrong and try to find a way of putting it right because if they don't, they are trying to say "I got where I am so I am more powerful than anybody else' ... well, I don't think so," he declared.
Asked if the Church was united, Sentamu conceded that the body had always struggled for unity and cited examples of discord over many centuries.
"It is divided in terms of the denominations that have been created but I don't think that is God's intention."
He added: "The important question that this issue raises is where do we find unity, is it found in our denominations or groups? Christ has torn down the barriers of sex, gender, colour as (the Apostle) Paul says, 'We are now all one in Christ'."
Sentamu contended that in the scheme of things, the greatest challenge facing the Church is its tendency to forget that its main preoccupation is God.
"There are many areas that people want to go into, but it seems to me that Jesus was right when He said, 'Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all will be added' ... ."
He lamented that the Church can be so diverted from God's will of love and mercy and justice for all strays into other areas.
"To me, some of these are just cul-de-sac ... It's God first, His Kingdom second and His righteousness third. To put in simpler terms, it is God first, my neighbour second and I third."
According to the archbishop, the Church is being sidetracked by the pressures of the world.
"We got to step aside and say we cannot change ourselves but we need the love of good, the power of God and pay great attention to neighbour," he stressed.
The archbishop's sojourn in Jamaica has not been confined only to spiritual sustenance but the physical as well, absorbing much of what Jamaica has to offer.
"We have seen some breathtaking scenes, lovely people and fantastic food," he declared.
"I think Scotchies restaurant is tops; you can't beat it because the food there has been simply spectacular. If you really want some jerk pork and jerk chicken, it's just fantastic, the high-level clergyman beamed.
Focus on children
Sentamu's ministry has placed significant focus on children.
"Jesus' disciples were debating who is the greatest and He took a little child and set him in their midst and said unless we become like children, you never enter the Kingdom of God," explained Sentamu.
He submitted that children possess the truly unique ability to trust.
"To fall out and then forgive each other and, for me, they represent my past, my present and my future ... there is tremendous hope if you look after the nation's children."
Sentamu prepared a report in January which stated that half a million children in England between the ages of eight and 15 years were unhappy with their lives and searching for a stable environment.
"It has nothing to do with money. Children just want enough. If children grow up happy and they are in loving homes, they are more likely to grow up loving others. But if they live with criticism and negativity, that actually shapes them."
Sentamu's love for children is understandable, being from an extended family with a grandfather, his father and five brothers serving in church ministry.
"I was raised in a home where we had to love one another, my brothers, my sisters and aunts and uncles; it was very big extended family and because we were raised in a loving way, ended up becoming the people we are."
As archbishop of York since October 2005, Sentamu is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England.
His throne is in York Minster in central York and his official residence is Bishopthorpe Palace in the village of Bishopthorpe outside York.