Mary Rice Hasson

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. An attorney and policy expert, Mary has been a keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, addressing education, women and work, caregiving, and gender ideology, and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, Life and Youth.

She speaks frequently at national conferences, universities, and in dioceses across the country, and has testified before the U.S. Senate, state legislatures, and the Australian parliament on parents’ rights and transgender issues.

The co-author of several books on education, Mary’s writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, National Review, First Things, the National Catholic Register and Our Sunday Visitor, among others.

She was honored by the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in 2023, and the Napa Institute in 2024, for promoting the truth with charity and courage.

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 seven.

A note about the Person and Identity Project (PIP): The Person and Identity Project aims to equip parents and faith-based institutions with the facts, resources, and expertise to promote an authentic vision of the human person and to counter gender ideology.  PIP experts speak, write, and conduct workshops on gender ideology for churches, schools, parents, and faith-based organizations. See personandidentity.com

A note about the Catholic Women’s Forum: The Catholic Women’s Forum takes its inspiration from Pope St. John Paul II, who wrote that women have “the task of assuring the moral dimension of culture…a culture worthy of the person,” (Christifideles Laici, 51). The Catholic Women’s Forum provides a network for Catholic women scholars seeking fellowship and to influence the culture, and offers a forum for Catholic women to share faith, inspiration, and resources. See catholicwomensforum.org.

Recent publications:

Appellate brief in the 9^th Circuit supporting challenge to Washington law effectively mandating “affirmation only” therapy for minors, December 16, 2021.

“Bringing the Christ of Christmas to a Lost Generation,” Legatus Magazine, Dec 1, 2021

 “Erasing Females in Language and Law,” Journal of Christian Legal Thought, Christian Legal Society, Oct. 21, 2021.

“Is It Emotional Abuse For Parents To Deny A Child’s Transgender Claims?” National Review Online, October 17, 2021.

“Time for an Exodus from Public Schools?” Our Catholic Mission, Cardinal Newman Society, October 8, 2021.

“The Equality Act and the End of Females,” Newsweek, February 24, 2021.

“The Pope is Catholic After All,” co-author with Tim Busch, The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2020.

Books and Book Chapters:

Chapter author, “Sexual Identity, Gender Ideology, and Religious Freedom: The Tug of War over ‘Who We Are,’ – Schools as Battlegrounds,” in the Handbook of Church and State, Shannon Holzer, ed. (New York, NY: Palgrave, expected publication fall 2022)

Co-author, with Theresa Farnan, PhD, of Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child From Public School Before It’s Too Late (Regnery: 2018)

Chapter author, “What About Sex: Habits of Heart for a Fulfilling Sexual Relationship and a Happy Marriage,” in Venus and Virtue: Celebrating Sex and Seeking Sanctification (2018).

Editor, Promise and Challenge: Catholic Women Reflect on Feminism, Complementarity, and the Church (Our Sunday Visitor: 2015)

Co-author, with Michele Hill, of the report, What Catholic Women Think About Faith, Conscience, and Contraception (EPPC 2012)

Co-author, with Kimberly Hahn of Catholic Education: Homeward Bound (Ignatius Press: 1996).

Selected Presentations and Interviews:

[See also the videos collected on the Person and Identity Project website]

• “How to Talk to Your Kids About Trans Issues,” presentation for school parents, Nov. 10, 2021
• “When Gender Identity Wins, Females Lose,” EDIFY video, Sept. 30, 2021.
• “Family Structure, Values and Foundation,” Center for Urban Renewal and Education’s 2021 National Policy Summit, September 2021
• “The Transgender Revolution in the Classroom,” WEBINAR, EPPC, September 22, 2021.
• “Religious Liberty,” Franciscan University Presents, Conversation with Fr. Dave Pivonka, Scott Hahn, and Dr. Regis Martin, July 2, 2021.
• “Transgender and Gender Identity: Risks and Truth, Searching for More, Diocese of Arlington VA, June 23, 2021.
• “The Ethical Implications of Redefining Sex,” EWTN In Depth, June 18, 2021.
• “Gender Ideology and the Equality Act,” WEBINAR, Catholic Information Center, Washington DC, March 31, 2021
•  “The Equality Act and What It Means for Catholics,” WEBINAR, Diocese of Arlington, March 22, 2021.
• “Why Catholic Education?” St. Michael’s Academy of Petosky (MI) Speaker Series, March 19, 2020
• “Defending the Human Person in the Face of Gender Ideology,” Bringing America Back to Life, Cleveland Right to Life Convention, March 18, 2021.
•  “Gender Ideology,” Interview with Fran Maier, Napa Institute, March 18, 2021.
• “The Equality Act,” The World Over with Raymond Arroyo, EWTN, March 18, 2021.
• “Attorney Mary Hasson rips Equality Act,” Forbes, March 17, 2021. Testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the Equality Act.
• “Transgenderism,” Catholic Answers Live (hour 1), March 1, 2021.
• “Faith in the Time of COVID,” Archdiocese of St. Andrews & Edinburgh, February 8, 2021.
•  “Gender Ideology,” The World Over with Raymond Arroyo, EWTN, February 18, 2021.
• “JK Rowling and the Meaning of Womanhood,” Napa Institute, February 5, 2021.
• “The Supreme Court, Civil Rights, and Transgenderism,” American Public Philosophy Institute, Nov. 9, 2020.
• “Public Education,” Interview, Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, August 6, 2020.
• “The Dangers of Gender Ideology,” Interview, the Catholic Association, February 14, 2020.
• “Sexual Consent and Our Current Throwaway Culture,” Love and Fidelity Network Conference, Princeton University, November 8, 2019.
• “Shaping Conversations in the Church and Culture,” GIVEN Institute, Oct. 31, 2019.
• “The Transgender Moment,” Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life, Franciscan University of Steubenville, September 2019.
• “Religious Liberty for All,” Sutherland Institute Congressional Series, August 2019.
• “Gender Clarity, Please!” St. Dominic Church, Faith and Sexuality Series, Washington DC, July 30, 2019.
• “Should We Stay or Should We Go?” Parents’ Rights in Education, Lake Oswego, OR, May 2019.
• “Truth, Conscience, and Love in a Post- Christian Culture,” Napa Institute/EWTN, March 8, 2019.
• “Gender Ideology: Ideological Aggression Against Women and Girls,” UN Commission on the Status of Women, March 2019.
• “Valuing Unpaid Caregiving: The Human Dimension,” UN Commission on the Status of Women, March 2019.
• “Alive in Christ,” Catholic Women’s Commission 2019 Day of Reflection, Archdiocese of Newark, March 27, 2019.
• “The Gender Revolution,” Catholic Women’s Commission 2019 Day of Reflection, Archdiocese of Newark, March 27, 2019.
• “Truth, Conscience and Love in a Post-Christian Culture,” 2018 NAPA Institute Conference.
• Interview about Get Out Now (alongside Theresa Farnan), The Eric Metaxas Show, October 2018
• “Should Pope Francis Resign?“, TRT World, September 2018.
• Comments on the McCarrick scandal: “Spiritual Reform Is the Answer”, EWTN News Nightly with Laura Ashburn, July 2018.
• Transgenderism & Child Welfare, World Lutheran News Digest, June 2017 (begins at 5 min. mark).
• Birth Mothers and Adoptive Mothers Celebrate Mother’s Day, EWTN “Pro-Life Weekly,” May 2017.
• “The Distinctiveness of Women’s Work and Women’s Empowerment”,  Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations, March 2017.
• Redeeming the Gender Revolution, Genuine Feminine Conference, January 31, 2017.
• “Women and the Church: An Inter-Tradition Dialogue – Is Christianity Bad for Women?” panel discussion, University of Notre Dame, September 2016.
• Interview about Promise and Challenge, Salt and Light TV’s “Subject Matters,” June 2016.
• Interview during Pope Francis’s visit to US, CSPAN, October 2015.
• Keynote Remarks of the 2015 Saint John Paul II Award for the New Evangelization, Catholic Information Center, October 2015.

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