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Benedictine Values for Life
Genevieve Mougey, Presidential Leadership Award recipient, keeps the Benedictine values alive through her work as director of the Office of Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
Genevieve Mougey, ’00, does not see what she does as a “job” or “career.” She sees it as her vocation, all stemming from her faith and identity in Christ. Currently serving as director of the Office of Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., she has worked in justice and peace ministries for the past 11 years with various national Catholic and Christian organizations. She also worked in parish and campus ministry for six years.
“When I graduated from the University of Mary, I expected that I would be working in the Church and my dream job was to work in campus ministry,” Mougey said. “What I have chosen to say 'yes' to in my life has led me to live a life that was nowhere on my radar.”
Mougey says that discernment and Benedictine spirituality have directed her life since graduating from Mary. “It would not be an exaggeration to state that the Benedictine charisms and values I learned during my undergraduate years at Mary have guided and girded every step in my professional and personal life,” Mougey said. “I try to ensure that my life is a living example of simplicity, hospitality, respect for others, prayer, and community.”
In March of 2020, those values led Mougey to begin her work as director of the Office of Social Concerns, tasked with reopening the office that had been closed for eightplus years amid a pandemic and racial justice outcry. “I believe it all starts with meeting people’s immediate needs first,” Mougey said. “Then we connect that with social justice activities and embrace the call and the need for systematic change.”
One of the basic needs Mougey has sought to address in her first year is food insecurity. During the pandemic, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., had 87 parishes running food pantries. Mougey worked on a program to grant half a million dollars to provide food assistance at parishes and Catholic schools. “It’s required a lot of my time and attention. And it’s not something that was in my job description when I was hired, but that’s what was needed to meet the immediate needs of the people at that time,” she said.
She also was involved in discussions around racial diversity and systemic racism and how to address it in the diocese. “My office, along with other offices in the diocese, developed a Catholic response to all that was going on. We held a prayer vigil, and it was an incredible moment of solidarity and reconciliation, noting that there is a problem of racial injustice, and it needs to be addressed,” Mougey said. “The Church is not immune to that. It was important that we showed up.”
Mougey remains grateful to the University of Mary and the Sisters of Annunciation Monastery for their impact on her spirituality which guides her life. “Sister Thomas Welder was the president during my time at the University of Mary, and her embodiment of servant leadership, alongside the other women whom I was able to engage with from the Monastery, were deeply influential to my formation as a woman who works in the Church,” she said. “The University of Mary has an amazing commitment to women, to solid leadership, and to exemplify what it means to embody all the facets of Saint Benedict’s rule.”
