London, England - THE Church of England is infected with institutional racism and is still a place of "pain" for many black Anglicans, according to its first black archbishop in England.
Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop-designate of York, has used the foreword of a new book implicitly to criticise fellow church leaders for failing to deal properly with discrimination in the organisation.
Though a long-term critic of the church's "monochrome" white culture, his comments will now carry far more weight as he is soon to be enthroned as the second most senior cleric in the hierarchy.
They signal his intention to place racism at the heart of his agenda in office and will reopen soul-searching over one of the church's most sensitive issues.
Another black bishop, the Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, complained of racism when an unnamed cleric dubbed him a "Paki papist" while the church was selecting a successor to Dr George Carey at Canterbury in 2002.
The book to which Dr Sentamu has contributed, Rejection, Resistance and Resurrection: Speaking Out on Racism in the Church, is a hard-hitting account of the rejection felt by many black Anglicans. Written by Mukti Barton, the adviser on black and Asian ministries to the Bishop of Birmingham, Dr Sentamu's present post, it describes racism as a "deadly poison" often unconsciously spread by white Christians.
It also claims that black people are significantly under-represented in the clergy, even in the diocese of Birmingham.
The Archbishop-elect, whose promotion was formally announced in June, said that institutional racism was found in all the churches to some degree.