Dr. Mary Beth Yount is a professor of theology and the Irene S. Taylor Endowed Chair for Catholic and Family Studies at St. Vincent College. In addition to courses in theology and religious studies, her interdisciplinary doctoral/master’s level courses include research methods and ethics courses in education, counseling and nursing.
Administrator of more than 20 research dissertations, Yount is editor of the Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling. Her broad ministerial experience includes roles as executive director of a Catholic nonprofit organization, an interfaith trauma hospital chaplain and a co-planner of a papal visit.
Pope Francis awarded Yount a Benemerenti Medal, which honors the laity for service to the Catholic Church. Yount is a consultor for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Vatican dicasteries (administrative offices that are part of the Roman Curi). She has been featured by hundreds of media outlets, including Time magazine and Rome Reports, an independent TV news agency that covers the Vatican.
Yount’s academic publications in 2020-2024 include seven articles and five collected volume contributions on lay ecclesial ministry, migration/sanctuary, synods, formation of church members and families, and power dynamics in worship. She enjoys eating pizza in the park with her four children.
Education
PhD, Theology, Duquesne University MA, Theology, St. Mary’s University (TX) BA, Theology (Philosophy minor) University of St. Thomas (TX)
Courses
Basics of the Catholic Faith Catholic Bioethics
Selected Publications
Articles
Academic
(Forthcoming, Fall 2024) Yount, Mary Beth. “Uplifting Voices for Transformation and Tilling the Church” Philosophy & Theology, ed. James B. South, Issue/Vol TBD.
Yount, Mary Beth. “History and Horizons of Lay Ecclesial Ministry in the United States Catholic Church” in Theological Roundtable entitled “Claiming Voice: Ordained and Lay People Co-Creating the Church.”
Horizons: The Journal of the College Theology Society, 49, 1 (2022): 174-227. DOI: 10.1017/hor.2022.5 Jobe, Sarah, and Nathaniel Grimes, Vincent Lloyd, Jason S. Sexton, Kathryn Getek Soltis, and Mary Beth Yount. “Top 10 Tips to De-Carcerate Your Theology, Ethics, or Religion Classroom.” Political Theology, 23, 3 (2022): 1-9. DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2022.2079238
Yount, Mary Beth. “Fraternity, Human Community, and Migration: Pope Francis and the Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb.” Critical Theology, 4, 3 (2022): 2-8.
Yount, Mary Beth. “Ruether, Rosemary.” American Religious History: Belief and Society through Time, vol 3 (ency. article), ed Gary S. Smith. California, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2020: 278-279.
Yount, Mary Beth. “Ryan, John A.” American Religious History: Belief and Society through Time, vol 2 (ency. article), ed Gary S. Smith. California, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2020: 243-245.
Yount, Mary Beth. “Privilege, Power Dynamics, and Radical Particularity” in collected essay entitled “Ethnography and Theology in the World-Church: Reflecting on Vocation, Liturgy and Ethics with Selva J. Raj.” Sixty-Fifth Annual Volume of the College Theology Society: All the Ends of the Earth: Challenge and Celebration of Global Catholicism, Orbis Books (Maryknoll, NY: 2020): 218-225.
Till, Robert and Mary Beth Yount. “Governance and Incentives: Is It Really All about the Money?” Journal of Business Ethics (Feb 2018): 28-42. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-3778-5, Print ISSN 0167-4544, Online ISSN 1573-0697.
Yount, Mary Beth. “Transmitting Religious Decision-Making through Interfaith Action,” Theoforum Vol. 45 No. 1 (2014): 175-186. DOI: 10.2143/T.45.1.3073540
Yount, Mary Beth. “Thinking Ethically with Lonergan: Foundations for Political and Religious Decision-Making,” guest editor’s Introduction to the Special Issue, Theoforum Vol. 45 No. 1 (2014): 5-10. DOI: 10.2143/TF.45.1.3073531
Public Theology
Yount, Mary Beth. “World Meeting of Families highlights importance of life's messiness,” National Catholic Reporter (Jul 22, 2022) [https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/world-meeting-families-highlights-importance-lifes-messiness]
Yount, Mary Beth and Michael Canaris. “Sharing the Dream: Higher Education Funding for the Undocumented,” America Magazine (March 23, 2021) [https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2021/03/23/undocumented-college-students-financial-aid-daca-240277]
Yount, Mary Beth. “The Secret to Pope Francis,” Crux at Boston Globe, Guest Essay (September 15, 2015) [http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/09/15/the-secret-to-pope-francis/]
Book Chapter Contributions
(forthcoming) Yount, Mary Beth. “Lay Ecclesial Ministry: Already and Not Yet.” Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry (AGPIM). Volume editors, Michael Canaris & Maureen O’Brien.
Yount, Mary Beth. “The Synods on the Family” in Catholic Family Teaching: Commentaries and Interpretations, Georgetown University Press. Volume editors, Jacob M. Kohlhaas & Mary M. Doyle Roche, 2024.
Yount, Mary Beth. “The Undomesticated Church: Inspiration and the Mission of the Family” in The Survival of Dulles: Reflections on a Second Century of Influence. Edited by Michael Canaris. NY: Fordham University Press, 2021.
Yount, Mary Beth. “Hospitality and Disruption: The Church as Sanctuary” in Global Indifference? The Church and Migration, eds Darren Dias, Gerard Mannion, Michael Attridge, and Jerry Skira. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
Yount, Mary Beth. “‘Shared Responsibility’: Practical Involvement of the Laity” in Full, Conscious and Active: Lay Participation in the Church’s Dialogue with the World. Edited by Donna L. Orsuto and R
