A FORMER senior cleric has welcomed the new Archbishop of York's tough stance on racism in the church.

The former Archdeacon of York, the Venerable George Austin, said Dr John Sentamu was "the best man for the job" to tackle discrimination in the Church of England.

His comments came after Dr Sentamu, the Archbishop-designate of York, spoke out against "institutional racism" in the church.

Writing in the foreword of a new book, Dr Sentamu said the church was still a place of "pain" for many black Anglicans.

Mr Austin, who has fiercely opposed the ordination of women and has condemned the church for taking too liberal a line on homosexuality, told the Evening Press: "Dr Sentamu brings to the job something which nobody else can - he has been on the receiving end of racism and because of that he knows what he is talking about.

"Fifty years ago a black archbishop would have been unthinkable, but the church has become very much more multicultural since then. However, it can still be institutionally discriminatory, not just of race, but of class or theological belief.

"Nevertheless, the fact is that we have now got a black archbishop, and from his background he is bound to see racism as a big, important issue that must be dealt with."

The book, Rejection, Resistance And Resurrection - Speaking out on racism in the Church, was written by Mukti Barton, one of Dr Sentamu's advisors in his current role as Bishop of Birmingham. It highlights the isolation felt by many black Anglicans.

A spokeswoman for Dr Sentamu, who is currently on holiday, said: "There is no doubt that Christian people coming from the Caribbean and South-East Asia in the 1950s and 1960s faced enormous barriers, and the book speaks about these experiences.

"The book also speaks very positively about how these barriers have been overcome in the last 15 years in the Diocese of Birmingham, under the leadership of the last three Bishops.

"Bishop Sentamu is calling for us to celebrate these changes, as a form of resurrection, in the Centenary Year of the diocese and to build on these changes for the future."

A former Ugandan high court judge who fled the regime of Idi Amin, Dr Sentamu has been a long-term critic of racism.

He first accused the Church of institutional racism in 1999, when he said at a General Synod in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence police inquiry that the church suffered many of the same sins as the police.

Dr Sentamu will formally be confirmed as York's Archbishop on October 5.

Updated: 10:47 Tuesday, August 30, 2005