As publisher of re:generation quarterly, a magazine associated with her work on the board of the Regeneration Forum, Ever John-son's goal is to bring together Christians of all divides to help them move toward unity, inspired by Pope John Paul II's efforts.

Johnson also serves both as the Catholic studies project manager and research assistant to George Weigel at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Prior to her work in Washington, D.C., she worked in the Texas state legislature.

She spoke with Register features correspondent Tim Drake about her faith formation, work on the Regeneration Forum and her job at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Where are you from originally? Tell me about your family.

I'm a Texan born-and-bred. My father is from Fort Worth and my mother is from Gloucester, Mass. They met in college at Loyola University-New Orleans, where they were both members of the “Conservative Club.” They also belonged to the Wanderer Forum in those days—one of my mother's relatives was the founder of the forum. I think they must have been a bit peculiar as college students in the '60s! Real straight arrows. My dad still reads the Wanderer, but he swears by the Register for the most balanced and interesting news (honestly!).

After a stint in Vietnam, my dad went into his family's business—cafeterias—and they settled in Fort Worth. My mother is a poet, a beautiful soul, and the heart of the family of 12 children—eight girls and four boys. Our Catholic faith (in the Bible Belt, no less!) was the defining essence of our childhood. Mom chased us out the door each day to check if we were wearing our scapu-lars and sprinkled us with holy water. Dad led the family rosary every night. Was there a Catholic devotion we didn't have? Probably not. Our Baptist school friends were amazed at the intense physical evidence of our faith—statues, beads, medals, pictures. We kids were a little embarrassed by it all, especially when Mom evangelized people, which she never let up doing, but we loved the Church nevertheless.

A lot of people were critical of my parents for having so many kids. They just thought the whole enterprise couldn't come to any good. But, lo, we turned out well! When I think back, I have to attribute that to the protection of the Blessed Mother. As much as we rolled our eyes and huffed and puffed about it when we were kids, all those rosaries had a good effect. Every one of us still holds a strong and growing faith.

Have you always had a strong faith life?

As a child, I had a deep respect for and attachment to the faith. As a teen-ager on through my early 20s, I asked all the usual questions, but mostly with the conviction that the Church was right, even if I didn't understand how, for instance, Jesus was really present in the host and wine. I would say I spent a good 10 years actively seeking to understand, to some small extent, the more perplexing doctrines of the faith. And the Holy Spirit patiently helped me through that initial part of my path to a more mature faith. As for practice, I never really had the leisure to think I didn't need the sacraments. Some early experiences of the painful reality of the human condition kept me coming back.

How did you become involved with the Ethics and Public Policy Center?

Originally, my education and work experiences prepared me for work in public service. In graduate school, I studied international relations in Italy, where I did an internship at the Vatican. That got me thinking about serving the Church first and country second. I began to crave such integrity of life, and so my faith gradually came to be the most important element of my work.

When I returned to D.C. for my second year of graduate school, the Ethics and Public Policy Center was doing a joint lecture series with my school on religion and international relations. The center is dedicated to bringing Judeo-Christian principles into public policy debates. I thought it would be an interesting place to work, so I wrote to George Weigel, who was just beginning the research for Witness to Hope, and he took me on as an intern and then as his assistant. It's been a great five years here. Mr. Weigel is a generous and kind boss, and the center has a wonderful spirit to it.

As young Christians come to know and trust each other, a new environment of willingness and open-mindedness is created.

As Catholic studies project manager at EPPC, I receive applications from students who want to attend our annual Tertio Millennio Seminar in Poland, where we study Catholic social teaching on the nature of a free society. In 2000, my future husband's application came across my desk. I was so intrigued by Soren's background that I put him at the top of the list and looked forward to meeting him. It was pretty much love at first sight. Three weeks in the romantic city of Krakow decided our fate, and Mr. Weigel didn't even realize it until the seminar was over! So, I'm grateful to Ethics and Public Policy Center for more than a fulfilling job.

I understand that you are also currently studying theology.

After a year at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, I started studying theology part time at the Dominican House of Studies. I just finished the course requirements for the master's degree and have decided to go on for the licentiate degree. My area of concentration is systematic theology. I love it for its own sake, but especially because I think it will eventually help me to participate in aspects of the Church's life to which I feel called—ecumenical dialogue and inculturation of the Gospel in varied cultures. I'd like to help “translate” the faith in terms and images that people coming at it from very different places can understand.

With regard to ecumenism, I have very high hopes for the future. I don't think official dialogues will bring about unity to begin with, though. What I see among younger Christians of varying traditions now are grass-roots movements—working together on social issues that they already agree on, especially pro-life issues. As they come to know and trust each other, a new environment of willingness and open-mindedness is created. As Christians of varying traditions have the experience of each other as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and so begin to personally feel the pain of the divisions, doctrinal discussions may come to seem more worthwhile to a sizeable enough segment of the Church to jump-start official dialogues.

You're also on the board of the Regeneration Forum. Tell me about your work with that.

Working with the Regeneration Forum is an outgrowth of my interest in ecumenism. As a movement that produces the young Christian faith-and-culture magazine re:generation quarterly as well as facilitating about 30 readers' forums around the country and an annual conference, the forum is dedicated to bringing together Christians across all sorts of divides, especially that of tradition, Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox, with hopes of changing the future of the Church in ways that our generation sees as important.

Specifically, we challenge young Christians to respect and learn from Christians of other traditions, to develop a healthier critique of and use of our culture for the sake of the Gospel, and to make a more radical commitment to a truly Christian lifestyle. Although the magazine was started by an evangelical-turned-Catholic, most of its staff and readers are evangelicals, with a good sprinkling of Catholics and Orthodox involved. I hope to see more and more involvement from young Catholics as they realize and take to heart how immensely important Christian unity is to the Holy Father. Our current project, “as ever!” is to fund the magazine, which is really quite nice, but we are also hoping to find the time to encourage our readers groups to become more active in engaging our culture and doing charitable work within their communities.