Mary Rice Hasson, J.D.

Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., is the Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded and directs the Person and Identity Project, an initiative that equips parents and faith-based institutions to promote the truth about the human person and counter gender ideology. She is also currently a Visiting Fellow for the Veritas Center at Franciscan University. An attorney and policy expert, Mary has been a three-time keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, for the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth and the Committee on Religious Liberty. She was awarded the Cross Pro Eccelsia et Pontifice, a decoration of the Holy See, for her distinguished service to the Catholic Church by law people and clergy. She speaks frequently at national conferences, universities, and in dioceses across the country and provides expert advice to legislators, policymakers, and NGOs on issues related to gender ideology. The co-author of several books on education, Mary’s writing appears regularly in national media and academic publications. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Notre Dame Law School, Mary is married to Seamus Hasson, and they are parents of seven grown children and grandparents of nine. 

The Person & Identity Project

The Person and Identity Project assists the Catholic Church in promoting the Catholic vision of the human person and responding to the challenges of gender ideology. It responds with the answers to the questions about what is sex, gender, and the human person. The PIP stands at the intersection of the truth and a culture lost in confusion, offering a clear path toward rootedness in God’s plan for our lives.

“The impact of gender ideology extends far beyond the number of children and teens who personally experience identity confusion, however. Gender ideology has distorted the cultural meaning of “man” and “woman.” It is changing our language, dictating new words and meanings (e.g., “cisgender”), and altering our relationships. Every institution is affected. Employers and schools require new trainings on “transgender inclusivity” and institute new policies covering “gender identity.” Social media has become a minefield, where people who think biological sex is real, that males can never become females (and thus “transwomen” are not women at all), or that women’s sports and private spaces are worthy of protection, must tread lightly or face a virtual mob and social humiliation.

Catholics are called to respond. For Catholics, gender ideology is best understood as a troubling disconnect from the truth about who we are—the inevitable result of a culture that has forgotten God. As both Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI have observed, gender ideology promises a false, androgynous “utopia” even as it wages a “global war” on marriage and the family.”

Links

Mary Rice Hasson

The Person & Identity Project

Books