CHAPEL Open your heart
College was honoured to host His Grace The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, at its Ash Wednesday service – and it was all because Chaplain Bosco Peters took a long shot. Hearing that the Archbishop and his wife, the Rev. Margaret Sentamu, were coming to New Zealand, Bosco invited them to attend, along with College Warden, Bishop Peter Carrell. “It was a significant event for College because, from my research and as far as I can ascertain, we’ve not previously had an Archbishop of York here as part of a service,” says Bosco. “In the Chapel’s service book there is now the signature Sentamu Ebor. Sentamu is the Archbishop’s family name, but in Church of England tradition Archbishops can also use the name of their see as their surname and Eboracum is the Roman name for the city that has now become York.” In the Church of England, the Archbishop of York is second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury, so the significance of the visit to College was huge. In Chapel, Archbishop John spoke about faith as a personal journey, and told the boys if you open your heart God will be “with you” every step of the way.
“Be authentic, be yourself, because God knows you better than you think. Create the habits of the heart where you can be compassionate, kind, loving and giving. Check: how real am I? How caring am I? How can I make a difference? If you open your heart and allow God to be with you, you will be truly transformed.” Originally from Uganda, Archbishop John was a judge of the High Court until, in 1973, he was detained for 90 days for criticising the dictator Idi Amin. Beaten terribly, he found the temptation to give up hope of release was always present. In 1974, he fled to the United Kingdom where he was baptised, studied for a doctorate and trained
for the priesthood, eventually becoming the 97th Archbishop of York in 2005. “He has often been in the news – camping in York Minster, forgoing food in solidarity with those affected by the Middle East conflict,” says Bosco. “I well remember him on The Andrew Marr Show where in protest against the role of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe he took off his clerical collar and cut it into pieces, saying that Mugabe had done exactly that – taken people’s identity. After that Archbishop John did not wear a clerical collar for a decade.”
Christ’s College Canterbury
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