Longtime Episcopal Church staff member Canon Margaret S. Larom has been named interim director of the Advocacy Center.
“I am pleased that Margaret Larom will serve as interim director of the Advocacy Center until the new staff configuration plan is ready for launching,” Linda Watt noted in her announcement. “We are all grateful to Margaret for her willingness to bring her experience and talents to these responsibilities.”
Larom will coordinate the work of the Advocacy Center staff in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles as well as the Office of Government Relations, located in Washington, DC.
“Brian Grieves has set the highest standards for servant leadership here, and has provided steadfast personal witness to our church’s commitment to justice and peace,” Larom said. “I will do my best to follow his example, and look forward to working with my colleagues in new ways, as we move through this time of transition.”
The Advocacy Center of The Episcopal Church focuses on areas of social, racial and economic justice; environmental affairs; domestic poverty; Jubilee Ministries; Native American and indigenous ministries; public policy and government relations; and international justice and peacemaking.
Larom, Program Officer for International Justice and Peacemaking since 2008, will assume the interim position on October 19 after the Rev. Canon Brian Grieves departs the Church Center.
Meet Margaret Larom
Larom’s career has focused on building international, national and local relationships while maintaining a deep commitment to church or community vision, mission and service.
In 1980, she and her husband, the Rev. Peter Larom were appointed Missionaries to Church of Uganda (Anglican Communion). She joined the Church Center staff in 1985 as World Mission Information and Education Officer, a post she held until 1991.
From 1992 to 1995, Larom worked for the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA as editor of the Friendship Press, Inc., in New York, NY.
She returned to the Church Center in 1995 as the World Mission Interpretation and Networks Officer. From 2005 to 2008, Larom was the Director of Anglican and Global Relations.
Prior to her service at the Church Center, she was a reporter and editor for the Gannett Westchester Newspapers, Inc., White Plains, NY from 1968 to 1980 and at The New Yorker Magazine 1967-1968.
Over the years, Larom has served on numerous commissions, committees, networks and boards on the diocesan, national and international levels for The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, as well as in ecumenical circles. Currently she is a member of the Church World Service board of directors. Larom is an Honorary Canon in the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic.
She is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, MA.