Introducing Re/Generation 2020 Part 3

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the 2020 Re/Gen cohort introductions. Part 4, the final batch of the 2020 cohort, will be released next week.

Today we introduce five more members of the 2020 Re/Generation cohort! These young adults are scattered across the country, from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to Washington, D.C. to Portland, OR. We're thrilled to welcome Vanessa, Nadia, Mark, Brea, and Nikola to the Re/Generation family! Their skills and passions inspire us in our ongoing work to transform the Catholic Church.

Vanessa AlvaradoFlores

Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley (“RGV”), Vanessa AlvaradoFlores is a proud fronteriza. At all times, her life journey is guided by her heart and a deep desire to expand - to do the hard thing and connect to a higher purpose. She is currently the Outreach Coordinator at La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), a nonprofit organization founded by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta which champions social change along the South Texas border. Outside of her 9 to 5, Vanessa is an actress, a teaching artist, an aspiring singer-songwriter and an active member of MujerRGV, a collective of women RGV Artists who encourage and support the growth of fellow RGV women artists and entrepreneurs by producing and showcasing their talents at monthly MujerRGV events across the RGV. Her favorite quote is: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”- Howard Thurman.

Nadia Busekrus

Nadia (she/her) is a Portland-dweller who loves books, cooking, and nature. Nadia grew up in Hawaii amidst a large family of siblings, cousins, and hanai relatives. She was raised in the Catholic and charismatic traditions and cultivated a deep appreciation for community and relationships. After graduating with a degree in Community Health from George Mason University, Nadia moved to Oregon for a year of service in Hood River, Oregon where she experienced a deconstruction and re-learning of faith. Upon moving to Portland, she joined an incredible, affirming United Methodist community where she is part of a local affordable housing taskforce. Nadia is excited to reconnect with the Catholic community here to advocate for re-generation and re-creation of Catholic teaching in a way that builds God’s kin-dom by fostering justice, inclusion, and radical love.

Mark Guevarra

Mark is a loving partner and dad, a first year doctoral student in theology, a catechist, and most importantly a child of God and disciple of Jesus. Born in Vancouver, Canada to Filipino immigrant parents, baptized and raised Catholic, Mark has journeyed in life deepening his faith and growing in recognition of the many threads of what makes him who his is, especially his gay identity and who he is called to be. Mark has studied world religions and Catholic theology. He is a trained school teacher, former college instructor, and has served as pastoral associate for eight years. Following his firing from parish work for being gay and in a relationship, he has discerned a call back to academic life. Mark is interested in synodality, a way of walking together as church, especially as it includes LGBTQ+ Catholics. He is passionate about helping all people, especially LGTBQ+ Catholics deepen their faith and enrich the church.

Brea Harris

Brea is queer, multiracial, and Catholic. She is a nurse and a theologian. She is a writer and a sister. She is currently studying to become a Reproductive Health Nurse Practitioner at the Yale School of Nursing and is a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School. She loves to ask too many questions and hopes to carve out spaces in the Catholic church for fellow questioners. In particular, she hopes for a day when talking about reproductive justice and sharing experiences surrounding abortion within Catholic communities are no longer taboo. She hopes to work toward this goal during her time with Re/Generation.

Nikola Nable-Juris

Nikola is a feminist Catholic who envisions a Church that fights for gender, racial, and reproductive justice for all. After twelve years of Catholic school in Ohio and Virginia, she’s grateful to students at the University of Virginia’s Catholic Student Ministry and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps: Northwest for introducing her to progressive Catholicism. She attended law school at the University of Maryland after working with pregnant and parenting youth in Alaska and domestic violence survivors in Virginia.

Nikola is currently a Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow at Georgetown Law’s Initiative on Gender Justice and Opportunity. She previously worked at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, advocating around the country for legislation banning life-without-parole sentences for children. Nikola lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and soon-to-be three children. She enjoys biking, running, cooking, traveling, and balancing being impatiently frustrated and stubbornly optimistic about the future.