Mary O'Callaghan, Ph.D.

Mary O’Callaghan is a developmental psychologist; she received her B.A. in Psychology from Creighton University and completed her doctoral studies at the University of Notre Dame, where her work was funded by an NIH grant for research in developmental disabilities. In her current position as Visiting Fellow in the Fiat Program in Faith and Mental Health, she provides support to the program’s formation course for Catholic ministers and oversees Fiat’s research and evaluation efforts. She also continues her work in support of individuals with disabilities. She’s contributed to McGrath’s Teaching Human Dignity Series on this topic, and co-developed the STEP course “The Body and Beyond: Human Sexuality for Young People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities from a Catholic Perspective.”

Mary has been a public policy fellow at the deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame since 2015, where she focuses on the ethical and policy issues surrounding disability- selective abortion. She is an occasional writer and frequent public speaker on this topic and is a regular faculty at the DeNicola Center’s Vita Institute, an intensive summer training program for pro-life leaders. She was recently appointed to this Center’s Culture of Life Initiatives Advisory Committee. Her public policy work includes testimony before state legislatures in favor of disability-selective abortion bans and testimony at the United Nations on the scope of international abortion of children with Down syndrome. 

Mary has developed materials on intellectual disability for the USCCB and serves on the governing board of the National Catholic Partnership for Disability, where she chairs the Ethics and Public Policy Committee. At the local level, she was a member of the disabilities advisory board in the diocese of South Bend/Fort Wayne and is cofounder of Miriam’s Blessing, a diocesan organization offering support to parents who receive a poor prenatal diagnosis. She’s also on the Human Rights Committee of Logan Center, which serves individuals with intellectual disabilities in northern Indiana.

Mary enjoys teaching statistics, and previously taught as a faculty fellow in the Master of Autism studies program at Saint Mary’s College. She still teaches statistics occasionally as an adjunct professor in Mendoza Business College at Notre Dame.

She and her husband John live in Granger, Indiana, where they raised their five children. Her youngest son, who has Down syndrome and autism, inspires much of her work.