Hellen Wangusa installed as Anglican Observer at the United Nations
Episcopal News Service. February 6, 2007 [020607-02]
Matthew Davies
Hellen Grace Wangusa, former United Nations Africa coordinator of the Millennium Development Goals, was officially installed February 4 as the new Anglican Observer at the United Nations during the 11 a.m. Eucharist at New York's Trinity Church, Wall Street.
Bishop John Paterson of Auckland, New Zealand, chair of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), preached at the service and the Rev. Dr. James Cooper, rector of Trinity Church, presided.
Adonia Ayebare, deputy permanent representative of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uganda, officially "handed over" Wangusa to her new position, while the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, welcomed her as the new emissary of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Communion to the United Nations.
"We acknowledge the unique gifts you bring at this critical time in the future of the global community and the future of our global Communion," Kearon said. "Be among us as one who interprets to our Communion the needs, concerns and hopes of the world, and one who interprets to the world the concerns, hopes and counsel of our Communion."
Also present at the service were members of the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations' Advisory Council; the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore; Counsellor for the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Paul Johnston; as well as representatives from UNIFEM, UNHCR, and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the UN.
Wangusa accepted the call to be the next Anglican Observer at the United Nations in October 2006 and officially took office on January 1, 2007. She serves as a staff member of the London Anglican Communion Office with her office based at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City, in close proximity to the United Nations.
In representing the Anglican Communion at the United Nations, Wangusa has a responsibility to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the secretary general of the Anglican Communion to provide regular briefings and a flow of accurate information on critical issues that come before the U.N. general assembly.
A lay woman from Uganda, Wangusa has worked as the National Women's coordinator for the Anglican Church of Uganda and was responsible for developing national programs and fundraising.
From 1997-2004, Wangusa was coordinator of the African Women's Economic Policy Network (AWEPON), a faith-based women's organization in Africa that also coordinates the UN's Millennium Campaign for Eastern Africa. In this role, she advocated for policies that meet the needs of women, children and those from marginalized groups, and ensured that those most affected were central in influencing economic decision-making.
In his sermon, Paterson acknowledged that, in her new role, Wangusa will represent approximately 80 million Anglicans in 165 countries.
"In serving as the eyes, ears and the voice of the Anglican Communion at the United Nations, the observer is asked to bring, share, represent, serve, recruit, work with, facilitate, develop, create and provide," he said. "The Anglican Communion itself is a family of autonomous churches ... whose ethnic, cultural and political diversity reflects the complexity and richness of God’s world.
"Worldwide it works to promote fundamental human rights, freedoms, the empowerment of women and all peoples, the repair and preservation of the environment, the advancement of justice and peace, as it proclaims the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Anglicans are committed to working with others for a world that is pro-dignity, pro-nature, pro-people."
Paterson said that the Anglican Communion needs prophets. "We need people who catch fish, just as we need people who can move beyond that and catch people up in the knowledge and the experience of the unconditional love of God," he said. "Hellen, may God richly bless your mission and ministry in our name at the United Nations and in the churches of the Anglican Communion."
Speaking last year, Wangusa said she hopes to strengthen the rich contribution of the Anglican Communion into the political hubs at the United Nations and combine that with the UN committees in Geneva that specialize in humanitarian work. "I am keen to use my representative position to focus on war, peace and promote diplomatic means of diffusing tensions and resolving conflicts," she said, "and from my ecumenical experience, promote relationships between member churches."
The Anglican Church of Uganda issued a statement February 5 congratulating Wangusa on her appointment. "We are honored to know that the wider church is recognizing and receiving the capable, committed, and competent Christian leaders the Church of Uganda is producing, such as Hellen, who can serve the wider church, and, indeed, the international community," the statement said.
The Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye, provincial secretary of the Anglican Church of Uganda, said, "We know and believe that Hellen will leave a strong legacy of faith-based and Biblically grounded advocacy within the scope of the UN’s work."
Uganda’s Anglican Archbishop, Henry Luke Orombi, who met with Wangusa during a recent visit to New York, said: "Hellen is a product of the East African Revival Movement. We are confident that God will use her ministry at the United Nations to witness to the unchanging gospel in a changing world and to offer the hope of transformation through the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Wangusa will travel to Tanzania for the February 14-19 Primates Meeting and will be officially welcomed as the UN Observer by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Sunday, February 18, Eucharist in Zanzibar Cathedral.
The installation service was webcast on Trinity Church's website and is archived for on-demand viewing here.