Theresa Farnan

Fellow

Theresa Farnan, Ph.D., is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded and works on EPPC’s Person and Identity Project. A philosopher who specializes in Christian anthropology, she focuses her work on countering the destructive effects of gender ideology on young people, families, and faith communities. She also writes and speaks in defense of the family, persons with disabilities, and the unborn, and is a staunch advocate of Catholic education.

 

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Theresa Farnan, Ph.D., is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded and works on EPPC’s Person and Identity Project. A philosopher who specializes in Christian anthropology, she focuses her work on countering the destructive effects of gender ideology on young people, families, and faith communities. She also writes and speaks in defense of the family, persons with disabilities, and the unborn, and is a staunch advocate of Catholic education.

Dr. Farnan is the co-author of two books, Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before It’s Too Late and Where Did I Come From? Where Am I Going? How Do I Get There? She is editor and contributing author of Gender Ideology and Pastoral Practice: A Handbook for Catholic Clergy, Counselors, and Ministerial Leaders. In addition to numerous articles in scholarly journals and collections, her writing has appeared in First Things, Catholic World Report, Our Sunday Visitor, Humanum Review and other publications.

Dr. Farnan currently serves as chair of the Ethics and Public Policy Committee for the National Catholic Partnership on Disabilities. In that capacity, she collaborates with other Catholic scholars to protect persons with disabilities from harmful policies, including policies that promote abortion, euthanasia, and eugenics.

Previously, Dr. Farnan taught philosophy courses at the college level, teaching at St. Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and in diaconate formation programs for the Dioceses of Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. She was a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth.

She received her master’s degree and her doctorate in Medieval Studies from the University of Notre Dame, concentrating on medieval philosophy. She and her husband, Michael, have ten children, which is the inspiration for her X account @materx10.

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EPPC Scholars Support Citizen Petition Seeking FDA Action to Protect Males from Off-Label Estrogen Use…

Mary Rice Hasson, Rachel N. Morrison, Theresa Farnan

On June 17, 2026, EPPC Scholars Mary Rice Hasson and Theresa Farnan of the Person and Identity Project and Rachel…

Public Comments

PDF / June 23, 2026

EPPC Scholars Encourage FCC to Ensure TV Monitoring Board and TV Ratings System Serve Families,…

Chloe Lawrence, Eric Kniffin, Mary Rice Hasson, Rachel N. Morrison, Theresa Farnan

On May 22, 2026, EPPC Scholars across three EPPC programs—the Administrative State Accountability Project, the Person and Identity Project, and…

Public Comments

PDF / May 28, 2026

The Scandalous Synod Report: A Betrayal of Trust

Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan

The scope of this new synodal “paradigm” is breathtaking; under its erroneous approach, any sexual sin (and most other sins) can be reframed as “good.”

Articles

The Catholic World Report / May 17, 2026

Children of the State: Youth Sexual Rights and the Illusion of Parental Rights

Theresa Farnan

The pediatric medical office was bright, if sterile and antiseptic looking. A fish tank stood in the center of the…

Articles

Humanum / October 24, 2025

Prenatal Screening: “Weeding Out” Down Syndrome

Theresa Farnan

It was near the end of my prenatal exam. I was an older mom, expecting our tenth child, and was…

Articles

Skrmetti Is a Partial Victory for Common Sense

Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan

In a much-anticipated decision, United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court handed a win to states seeking to protect children from sex-rejecting…

Articles

First Things / June 19, 2025

EPPC & Scholars File Supreme Court Amicus Briefs in Opposition to Colorado Law Mandating “Gender…

Eric Kniffin, Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan

On Friday, June 13, 2025, scholars Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan, Eric Kniffin, and Susan Selner-Wright, PhD, filed a Supreme…

Amicus Brief

PDF / June 16, 2025

Letters from Rome 2025, No. 6—The Papal Interregnum

George Weigel, Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan

The Anthropological Revolution and Its Challenge by Theresa Farnan and Mary Hasson  Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor begins with a prophetic…

Articles

First Things / May 3, 2025

Trump Ends Government Promotion of Gender Ideology and Child Mutilation

Eric Kniffin, Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan

Trump’s ban on gender transitioning has turned the tide on an indefensible cult,” writes Telegraph columnist Suzanne Moore. “The pretense that sex can…

Articles

First Things / January 31, 2025

PIP on “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal…

Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan

PIP welcomes the Trump Administration’s “Day One” Executive Order “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal…

Articles

The Person and Identity Project / January 21, 2025

Humanae Vitae and Catholic Sexual Morality

Theresa Farnan

In December 2022, a group of Catholic scholars gathered in Rome to take part in a conference titled “A Response…

Articles

There Is Nothing Worth Saving in America’s Public Schools

Mary Rice Hasson, Theresa Farnan

The heart of their mission is to indoctrinate children into being atheistic gender ideologues.

Articles

The American Spectator / June 23, 2023