The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has announced his retirement date as 7th June, 2020 – just three days prior to his 71st birthday.
John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, at a gathering of Church of England bishops on the isle of Lindisfarne on 6th September. PICTURE: Newcastle Diocese (licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0/image cropped)
Sentamu said in a statement that he decided to make the announcement 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,” he said. “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.”
Sentamu, who was born in Kampala, Uganda, was installed as the 97th Archbishop of York, the second most senior position in the Church of England after the Archbishop of Canterbury, in November, 2005.
Sentamu famously cut up his clerical collar while appearing on The Andrew Marr Show in 2007 in protest at Robert Mugabe, then President of Zimbabwe. He restored it while on the same show in November last year after Mugabe was forced to resign.
It has been speculated that his replacement could be a woman.
