Mary Pat Garvin, RSM is a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. From 2011-2017 Mary Pat served as a member of her congregation’s general leadership team. Mary Pat holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the Gregorian University where she was a faculty member from 1994-2001.

Before being in leadership, Mary Pat ministered for twenty years with national and international conferences of religious, as well as with over 50 religious congregations throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

A life-long educator, Mary Pat has taught at Gwynedd-Mercy University and Seton-Hall University. Mary Pat’s research interest is the interplay of spirituality and psychology in the promotion of healthy and holy living of Christian life. She is the author of over 20 articles on topics pertaining to vocation discernment and the formative process.

Mary Pat co-authored “Leadership in Consecrated Life Today” in Formation and The Person: Essays on Theory and Practice (2007). In 2013, she offered a keynote address at the global meeting in Rome to over 800 leaders of women’s religious congregations. In 2017, Mary Pat was the recipient of the Sr. Mary Emil Penet Award from the Religious Formation Conference (RFC) in the United States. This award was presented in recognition of Mary Pat’s extraordinary contribution to the ministry of lifelong formation for religious congregations in North America and internationally.