Re/Generation 2021: Northeast

Call To Action is thrilled to announce our Re/Generation cohorts for 2021! In a series of posts, we are introducing the young adults who are joining our community through this program. Re/Generation gathers, supports, and mobilizes a growing community of young Catholic change-makers as they discern their particular vocations and lead the church toward healing and justice. Moving into our fourth programming year, we are introducing two cohorts under the Re/Generation umbrella. The POC Cohort is a cohort exclusively for people of color, while the Local Cohort provides dedicated support to people looking to build local progressive Catholic communities outside traditional parishes.

Matt Arnold
Local Cohort

Matt is neurodivergent, a Catholic convert of 4 years, and a wannabe social justice activist. His main areas of interest include disability rights and mental health justice. He lives in Syracuse, NY.

Robert McCarthy
Local Cohort

Robert is a third grade teacher originally from Garden City, NY. He earned his master's in education and a bachelor's degree in religious studies and public policy. During college, he worked on issues related to sustainability and frequently volunteered with the Haven, a day shelter in Charlottesville, VA. He likes to read, run, and cook and is inspired by the social justice vision offered by Jesus.

Scott Pyzik
Local Cohort

Scott Pyzik (“Like you ate so much pie, you got sick”) grew up in Westminster, MD. Meaning “one who wanders,” he has found community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Milwaukie, Oregon; and, currently, Newton, Massachusetts. He holds a BA in English, minoring in Secondary Education from St. Joseph’s University, as well as an MA in Theology and Ministry with a concentration in Hispanic Ministry from Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. Scott is passionate about gardening, DIY-ing/thrifting, sending/receiving letters by USPS, and trying to be a more hospitable person to himself and others. Scott works with a tutoring and mentoring program in Boston’s Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods.

Nicole Saldarriaga
Local Cohort

Nicole is a graduate student, writer, and educator living in Hoboken who believes that “great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” Before applying to Re/Generation 2021, she volunteered with the Progressive Catholic Church as an altar server and "Prayers During the Pandemic" facilitator. Nicole is also a co-founder of DJ's Free Market, a volunteer-powered mobile food-pantry in Hoboken. In all aspects of her life, she seeks to promote spiritual healing and social equality.

Tess Thompson
POC Cohort

Tess is a social worker in Brooklyn, NY specializing in working with people with chronic mental health conditions and members of BIPOC LGBTQ communities. A cradle Catholic who drifted from the Church, Tess had a reconversion experience shortly after earning her MSW degree at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. While there, her capstone project reviewed clinical best practices for working with LGBTQ Catholic clients, and she completed her final year field placement at STEPS To End Family Violence, founded by the late Sr. Mary Nerney CND.

Tess is passionate about decolonizing faith, oral history and intergenerational learning, and exploring intersections of spirituality and mental health. She is active in several ministries at her parish, including an initiative to commission religious images of Black and Brown saints and depictions of Christ. Tess has been a contributing writer to the queer Catholic online community Vine & Fig.

Ericka Williams-Rodriguez
POC Cohort

Ericka is a Catholic Worker, activist, gardener, community organizer, mother, and advocate for the poor. She has co-founded two Catholic Worker communities: one in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and one in Lansford, Pennsylvania. In Lansford she has purchased a closed Catholic church and school to turn into a community center and transitional housing. Ericka is passionate about sustainability, mutual aid, building intentional communities, transformative justice, BIPOC and LGBTQ rights and visibility, and doing what Dorothy Day wanted us to do: "Overthrow this rotten, decadent, putrid industrial capitalist system which breeds such suffering. We need to build a new society within the shell of this old, crumbling one".