Newsmaker Interview -- Jerry Hames
Episcopal News Service. January 10, 1990 [90008]
When Jerry Hames reported for work on January 2 as editor of Episcopal Life, he brought with him a wealth of experience in both secular and church journalism -- and a determination to make the new newspaper of the Episcopal Church "a national publication worthy of a national church."
"We are going to look at the issues through people," Hames said in an interview. "That's the best way to tell the story." He says the publication begins with a modest staff but that he hopes it will be very visible in the life of the church. "We want to be out in the dioceses and congregations listening to the concerns as we plan our issues," he added. Instead of being the publication of a corporate head office, Episcopal Life "should reflect the fears and joys and concerns of our whole church. That includes knowing where the church's leadership is going and what new initiatives are planned for the future."
A Canadian who was born and grew up in Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit, Hames said he "got hooked on journalism" when he was editor of the newspaper at the then Roman Catholic University of Windsor. While a student at Canterbury College, the first Anglican college affiliated with a Catholic university, he worked part-time at the Windsor Star. He joined the staff after graduation as a general assignment reporter writing on education and religion.
When he moved to the London (Ontario) Free Press a few years later, he established a religion beat. Combining his interest in education and religion, he began to cover student involvement in the civil rights movement. He accompanied Anglican and United Church of Canada clergy when they went to Alabama in 1965 to march with Martin Luther King Jr., from Selma to Montgomery.
In 1967 Hames was offered a position as press and information officer for the Anglican Church of Canada and saw it as an opportunity to forge a better relationship between the church and the secular press. "It was a time when the church was moving toward a new understanding of communication," he said. "There was an eagerness to receive more news of what was happening in the church, especially the social commitments and involvement."
Hames said attending the Lambeth Conference in 1968 was an important milestone in his career because it gave him exposure to the Anglican Communion -- and its journalists. Although the meeting was "very British and not very exciting," Hames said the press facilities were nonexistent, so journalists from the North American churches filled a vacuum by holding daily press briefings.
By the time he returned to the Lambeth meeting in 1988, "the situation was totally different," with a more open agenda that gave bishops a chance to bring their concerns before the group. "Third World bishops, for example, were able to say that crushing debts, poverty, and the environment deserved just as much attention as the issue of women's ordination," Hames said.
The press presence was much more obvious, due partly to a series of meetings the Anglican communicators had with the Primates before Lambeth. "We were able to convince them that it was important to cooperate with the press at Lambeth," Hames observed. "An international communications team was able to respond to the demands of the press. And for the first time simultaneous translation opened up the participation for those bishops whose first language was not English," he added.
In 1970 Hames joined the staff of the Canadian Churchman, first as news editor, then managing editor, and finally as editor in 1975. "This was a period of risk taking for the Anglican Church of Canada and for the newspaper," Hames said. "We were able to raise the consciousness of Canadian Anglicans to contemporary issues and help them understand what it meant to be a part of the wider Anglican Communion." That knowledge of the church beyond national boundaries is one of the things that has excited him most in his professional career as a church journalist. "Being able to explore the relationship among those who share a common commitment -- I find that personally rewarding," Hames added.
When asked if he considers the fact he is a Canadian a disadvantage, Hames chuckles and suggests that not being a part of the Episcopal Church structure may be a source of some freedom. He also talks about having at least "half a network" since he has been involved with the Episcopal Church and its communicators and has attended several General Conventions over the years. "Of course this initial period of listening will be very important -- and I will need the support of an experienced and competent staff," he said.
Among his colleagues in the church press, Jerry Hames has built a reputation for calm, thoughtful, steady professionalism. As Chris Walters-Bugbee, director of communications at Trinity Church in New York and a member of the selection committee, said, "His appointment is the clearest indicator yet of the Presiding Bishop's determination that the Episcopal Church will live up to the highest standards of church publishing. I don't see how the Church could possibly have done better."