Pat McDonough has enjoyed a thirty-five year career as a Catholic educator and school psychologist in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Her experience in pastoral ministry spans years as a Director of Religious Education, Director of Youth Ministry, Coordinator of Programs in the Diocesan Office of Family Ministry, and professor of psychology and theology in Catholic high schools and colleges on Long Island. Her deepest experiences of discipleship have been leading mission trips to Guatemala, Dominican Republic,  Rwanda, Appalachia, Pacific Northwest and Native American reservations. Pat also had the good fortune to chaperone a group of Catholic and Jewish teens to Israel with Project Understanding, an interfaith organization dedicated to promoting respect and appreciation for religious differences. She remains an avid supporter of Catholic Worker in NYC, where the discipleship of Dorothy Day continues to make Catholic social teaching a reality for the hungry, the homeless and the lonely.    

Pat has written on issues of faith, family life, spirituality and human development in her  column, Family Faith, which ran in The Long Island Catholic for eleven years. Pat has been a contributing author to The New York Times, Newsday, The National Catholic Reporter, The Catholic Digest and The American Catholic.   She is a popular speaker, often bringing her experience as both a professional and a parent to providing retreats and professional days to school faculties and parishes throughout the tri-state area.

Pat is mother to three grown children, her trinity of blessings.  And just when she thought life couldn’t get better, she became a grandmother.  

Pat holds a P.D. in Psychology, M.S. in Education, M.A. in Theology and a B.S. in Criminal Justice. She completed the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius over the course of an unforgettable thirty days as a graduate student.