Rev. Mark R. Ivany

The son of retired Maj. Gen. Robert and Marianne Ivany, Father Mark traveled the globe with his military family that also included three siblings. He was a Division II All-American lacrosse player at Massachusetts’ Merrimack College in 2000. Following college, he worked in the U.S. Senate and the Office of Congressional Affairs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. During this time, he continued his love of lacrosse as a coach at Gonzaga College High School.

Father Mark is a 2008 graduate of the Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange, N.J., where he earned master’s degrees in divinity and systematic theology. He was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Washington and began his pastoral work at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, where he served until 2011. He was installed as pastor of Assumption Church in Southeast D.C. in 2012 and soon after partnered with Catholic Charities to renovate and expanded the parish food pantry into the Pope Francis Outreach Center, which now provides Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets to over 3,000 children and seniors, while also distributing food and clothing to families and individuals year-round. In 2015, Father Mark was assigned to St. John Paul II Seminary in Northeast D.C., where he has served in different capacities. He is currently based at St. Patrick Catholic Church as a resident priest.

(Adapted partly from Catholic Charities bio: 83.33 Society Welcomes Father Mark Ivany as Chaplain – Catholic Charities DC)