Mary Novak serves as the Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. She is a lawyer, educator, chaplain, spiritual director, restorative justice practitioner, and activist who has worked in Catholic contexts for decades.

Before leading NETWORK, Mary served as a Mission Integrator and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown Law Center in Washington, D.C. In this role, she worked at the intersection of spirituality, psychology, and the work of justice

This episode explores how Mary’s family origins led her into an intersectional journey as a Catholic restorative justice practitioner. That journey informs her tenure at NETWORK, where she pursues a vision at the nexus of solidarity across faith, race, gender, and generation. 

We discuss the threats of WCN within our unfinished experiment we call democracy and how her organization is leaning into it. And we wrap with reflections on how she - in the words of the mystic Howard Thurman - “centers down.”

Social media: 

Instagram : Networ_Lobby

Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson is an activist, philanthropist, and public theologian who pursues a vision of a community marked by justice, peace, and love.

As the president & CEO of the Children's Defense Fund  (CDF) and CDF Action Council, he advocates for children's well-being at the intersection of faith and justice. Previously, he pastored St. John’s Church (The Beloved Community), a multiracial congregation in the city of St.Louis, while also serving as the president & CEO of the Deaconess Foundation.

In the wake of the killing of Michael Brown in 2014, Rev. Wilson was appointed co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, which released the report, ‘Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity,’ calling for sweeping changes in policing, the courts, child well-being, and economic mobility.

In this episode, my colleague, Dr. Cassandra Gould, joins me in this conversation with her seminary classmate. Together, we explore lessons from Ferguson and the wisdom it cultivated for Dr. Wilson’s current tenure with the Children’s Defense Fund. We discuss the impact of Black institutions in shaping his vocation and approach to social change leadership. We talk about his co-generational vision that reveres elders and prioritizes children. And we wrap up with reflections on how he finds rest amid the demands of the movement.

Follow Rev. Dr. Starsky on Instagram @revdrstarsky  @childdefender1973

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III  is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL,  and is a Senior Fellow with Auburn Seminary.

In this episode, we discuss themes from his new book, Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times. We explore the reality of the Darkness and how Black spiritualities have historically engaged in the darkest moments in our history. And we learn the powerful story of Robert Smalls and the brilliant, embodied wisdom of his daughter Makayla.

Referenced in this episode:

Ruha Benjamin, Race After Technology :
Inward Journey Podcast, hosted by Otis Moss III 

Otis on IG: @otismossiii  @trinitychgo