Evan Bednarz and William Kershner
Recorded
November 1, 2019
40:24 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
dda003004
Description
Evan Bednarz (30) talks with his colleague William Kershnar (24) about the role religion and faith play in the social justice movement. They talk about the work they do in the Catholic Worker House in Houston, the complexity of the US immigration system, the optimism that exists among religious individuals pursuing social and political change, and their own thoughts and struggles of pursuing change to make the world how they think it "aught" to be.Subject Log / Time Code
Evan talks about what his life was like before becoming a Catholic. He talks about the chaos he felt before and how he was living an inauthentic life. William talks about growing up secular Jewish. He talks about finding other people while in college who were ethnically Jewish but not religiously.
Evan and William talk about social justice and belief in God. They discuss what fuel their idea of what the world "aught" to be.
William talks about being from Palo Alto and how growing up in that community influenced his life path.
Evan and William discuss homelessness. William gives a brief description of the Catholic Worker movement and the specific role (hospitality) the Catholic Worker House in Houston has. They talk about how they feel they provide "band-aid" solutions to problems as opposed to working to solve/correct system issues. They feel this most in terms of the work they do to help people navigate the US immigration system.
Evan talks about needing a spiritual element to his work pursuing social justice/systemic change. He also talks about why he left the monastery he was in. He talks about how he came back to being religious in his 20s.
William shares his surprise at finding the optimism he encounters amongst people of faith who are pursuing political change and social justice. He personally finds this optimism hard given the overwhelming number of problems that exist in society today.
Evan and William continue to discuss the role of religion in pursuing social justice/change. William shares a Naomi Klein quote where she talks about Pope Francis's second encyclical "Laudato Si". He feels this quote captures the lack of optimism that exists among secular people working in social justice.
Evan and William discuss whether and how the world is redeemable.
Evan and Willam reflect on the optimism they find in their work at Casa Juan Diego. Evan reflects on his first couple of weeks as a Catholic Worker while William reflects on his first two months.
Participants
- Evan Bednarz
- William Kershner