Mary Pat Garvin serves religious congregations worldwide in the areas of leadership development and formation, and recently was appointed as postulator for the canonization cause of Catherine McAuley, foundress of the Sisters of Mercy. Other ministerial experiences have included: a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Institute Leadership Team; co-designer and instructor for the UISG program for the preparation of formators; and educator in primary, secondary, and higher education, including the Gregorian University where she received a PhD in psychology and served on the faculty for eight years. Currently she serves on the boards of the Inter-Congregational Collaborative Novitiate (ICCN) and Gwynedd Mercy University. In 2025, Mary Pat received the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). Her research interest is the interplay of spirituality and psychology in the promotion of a healthy and holy living of religious life.
From the beginning, Catherine McAuley recognized the call to respond to those in need as rooted not in stages of life or formal roles, but in attentive listening to the cry of God’s people. She spoke of the works of mercy as “the business of our lives,” naming them as a lifelong response to God, offered freely and without distinction.