Francesca Patti, M.A.

Francesca Patti is the Program Director for the Pathways to Communion Young Adult Programs at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. Francesca has a background working with people experiencing homelessness at André House of Hospitality in Phoenix, conducting graduate student research for Ave Maria Press, and serving as a youth and social outreach minister at St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church with the Echo Program. She is also an experienced professional photographer, and she uses her camera as a tool to capture life in all its stages, whether in portraiture or humanitarian work.

Francesca graduated from the University of Notre Dame with an MA in Theology (’24) and a BA in Spanish, with minors in International Development Studies and Theology (’19). In addition to these fields of study, some of her main interests include art, food equity, and sustainable farming. She is also a comedy junkie and endeavors to follow the “yes, and” principle of stand-up comedy as a rule of life. Alongside St. Mother Teresa, Gilda Radner is one of her heroes.