MONTEGO BAY, St James – The St James Parish Council at its regular monthly meeting yesterday, presented the Archbishop of York, Dr John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, the Key to the City of Montego Bay.

The ceremony was witnessed by several dignitaries, including former governor general, Sir Howard Cooke; Bishop Howard Gregory and Anglican Bishop of Jamaica, Alfred Reid, as well as students from several high schools in the Montego Bay area.

“We are gathered here to honour and to give due recognition to a distinguished son of Uganda. A man who has risen against all odds to become the first member of an ethnic minority to hold the second highest position in the Church of England,” Montego Bay’s mayor, Noel Donaldson, said in making the presentation to the Archbishop.

He lauded the Archbishop for what he described as his “impeccable record of service”, particularly to the church.

Archbishop Sentamu was also presented with a citation on behalf of the council by secretary/manager, Opal Beharie.

In his brief reply, the Archbishop expressed surprise at being honoured by the local body and challenged the council to work assiduously for justice and truth. He also urged the members to work feverishly to assist the underprivileged in the society.

“After all you will not be judged in the end by how well you live, but rather how well you serve particularly the poor, the lonely, the people facing injustices and poverty,” the Archbishop stressed.

Archbishop Sentamu, who is visiting the island as part of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands’ commemoration of the Bi-Centenary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, is the second person to have received the Key to the City of Montego Bay over the past three months.

In August, 23-year-old Jamaican-born Captain Barrington Irving Jnr was presented with the Key to the City for being the first black and youngest aviator to fly solo around the world.

The Anglican Archbishop was yesterday recognised as a “champion for justice and freedom” following a motion moved at a recent meeting of the St James Parish Council.

Born near Kampala in Uganda, Sentamu 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.

In 1949 he studied Law at Makerere University, and after practising as a Barrister, was appointed a Judge of the High Court in Uganda. After earning the ire of Idi Amin for his judicial independence, he was locked up for 90 days.

In 1974, he fled to the United Kingdom. There he pursued theological studies at the University of Cambridge leading to a PhD in 1984. He was ordained to the sacred ministry and was later consecrated a Bishop. In 2005 he was enthroned as Archbishop of York.