Topic: John Sentamu

John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu (pronounced: SEN-ta-moo) (born 10 June 1949 in Kampala, Uganda) is the 97th Archbishop of York, Metropolitan of the province of York, and Primate of England. He is the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

John Sentamu was born in 1949 in a village near Kampala, Uganda, the sixth of thirteen children. He read law at Makerere University, Kampala, and practised as an advocate of the High Court of Uganda. Dr Sentamu practised both law at the Bar and at the Bench until 1974. He incurred the wrath of the dictator Idi Amin because of his judicial independence and was locked up for 90 days, three weeks after his marriage. In a speech in 2007 he described how during that time he had been "kicked around like a football and beaten terribly", saying "the temptation to give up hope of release was always present". In 1974 he fled to the United Kingdom.

He read theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge (BA 1976, MA 1979, PhD 1984). He trained for the priesthood at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, being ordained a priest in 1979. His doctoral thesis is entitled Some aspects of soteriology, with particular reference to the thought of J.K. Mozley, from an African perspective. He worked as assistant chaplain at Selwyn College, as chaplain at a remand centre and as curate and vicar in a series of parish appointments before his consecration, in 1996, as Bishop of Stepney (a suffragan see in the Diocese of London). It was during this time that he served as advisor to the Stephen Lawrence Judicial Enquiry. In 2002 he chaired the Damilola Taylor review. That same year he was appointed Bishop of Birmingham where his ministry, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was praised by "Christians of all backgrounds". Dr Sentamu became President of Youth For Christ in 2004 and President of the YMCA in April 2005.