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Inside
NCR
It has been said around here that
Arthur Jones has ideas the way most of us have heartbeats. Any of you who have
seen the breadth and depth of coverage, the range of issues he handles month in
and month out, knows that might be slightly understating the matter. If we were
to recycle the clip files he has accumulated over his 26-year career with
NCR, we could save our newsprint costs for a year. He defines
hyperkinetic. I think when he turns off the computer at night, he plugs himself
into a wall socket. He is married to Margie, daughter of the venerable Mrs.
OBrien (whom he discussed in the Speed Rosary column in last weeks
paper) and they have three grown children and two grandchildren. He plays an
instrument called the ukulele banjo, knows more limericks (all delivered with
that signature British accent) than anyone should ever commit to memory, has
been known to exchange something called double dactyls with friends. He can
stand up and rip off all the verses to ORaffertys Pig
on command, in just about one breath. Lets put it this way, he writes
books in his spare time to keep himself busy.
His latest book, New Catholics for a New Century: The U.S.
Church Today and Where its Headed, published by Thomas
More (see excerpts), reflects his work for NCR during the past few years
and also casts light on the U.S. Catholic landscape of the future. Beyond the
reporting of information, the book is rich with Jones spirit, the
all-encompassing embrace that is always at the ready -- for friends, for the
downtrodden, and for all things in the church he loves.
And, yes, he usually wears one of those funny hats. He has a
collection of them.
Paul Jeffrey is one of the few
non-Colombian journalists the Uwa have seen on their own territory (see
story). But then Jeffrey, a United Methodist minister who has developed a solid
reputation as a reporter and writer throughout Central America and the
Caribbean, is often among the first or the only on the scene.
Youve seen his work in NCR before from Nicaragua and
Guatemala and elsewhere. Recently, he has reported about the church-led
demonstrations on Vieques, the Puerto Rican island that is used by the United
States as a bombing site.
Jeffrey and his wife, Lyda Pierce, also a United Methodist
minister and a feminist theologian, have lived in Central America for the past
15 years -- nine in Nicaragua, two in Guatemala and the past four in Honduras.
They have two children, Abigail and Lucas.
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, September 8,
2000
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