Joseph Barry (he/him/his) works as the donor services assistant at Sojourners.
Prior to joining the fellows of Cycle 42, Joe served with Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest and AmeriCorps, building education and service capacities at De La Salle North Catholic High School (Portland, OR), the second oldest school of the Cristo Rey Network. From his undergraduate studies of political science, philosophy, public policy, and theology at the University of Scranton, Joe prides himself on the unique value of his interdisciplinary education and his ability to adapt and grow from new experiences.
Joe is passionate about building justice-centered institutions which withstand challenges and change, which makes him particularly excited to support the projects of the advancement and operations teams as they chart Sojourners’ strategic plan forward. He is looking to develop tangible knowledge of the nonprofit world, learn transferable development skills, and connect with different career professionals throughout his fellowship year. He kicks himself each day realizing he’s doing so at the very heart of Washington, D.C.
When he’s not doomscrolling, Joe curates his collection of manga, tears through office coffee, critiques poorly made films with his friends, and writes armchair opinions about politics and culture on his personal Substack, where he should probably switch to writing under pseudonyms now that he works for an established magazine.
Posts By This Author
The Betting Economy Runs On Misplaced Faith
The prediction market is booming. In April alone, it was estimated that Polymarket and Kalshi recorded nearly $24 billion in trades.
A Christian Plan to Save the Internet
As for-profit technology platforms grow, they increasingly transform into representations of what Catholic theologian, philosopher, and critic Ivan Illich referred to as “radical monopolies”—an inescapable infrastructure that dominates every aspect of social organization.
Up against the machinations of platform capitalism, people are conditioned to embrace the faulty idea that their intrinsic value comes from how well they can meld into the profit margins of corporate algorithms operated by the likes of Meta, X, Reddit, and others. Brandon Rickabaugh, writing for the Center for Christianity and Public Life, describes this process of melding as “[t]he liturgy of mechanization, of depersonalization,” where demand for scalability and monetization online outweighs the practice of virtues like patience and generosity.
Your Algorithm Wants You To Worship the ‘Devil’
From 2023 to 2024, I served as a Jesuit Volunteer with the purpose of helping educate high school students. I was repeatedly left awestruck by how easily young people today become dependent on and how effectively they can navigate online spaces.