Patrick Moynihan

Deacon Patrick Moynihan serves as the President of The Haitian Project (THP) and head of its tuition-free Catholic boarding school in Haiti, Louverture Cleary School (LCS), a post he held from 1996 to 2006 and returned to in March 2009 after serving as President Emeritus in the interim. He has a degree in Classics from Brown University where he graduated Magna cum Laude and an MA in Religious Studies from Providence College. Deacon Moynihan was ordained a Permanent Deacon for the Rockford Catholic Diocese (IL).

In May 2012 Providence College awarded him an honorary doctorate in humanitarian service. In September 2012 he was awarded the Pierre Toussaint Medallion by the Archdiocese of New York for advancing the cause of educational opportunity, social justice and the Gospel, and in October 2012 was the recipient of Brown University’s John Hope Award for Public Service.

Before The Haitian Project, Deacon Moynihan was a futures and options trader for Louis Dreyfus Corporation (LDC). Unlike St. Francis, the saint who inspired his conversion and entry into missionary work, Deacon Moynihan’s family has supported his efforts since day one. His older brother, Brian Moynihan (CEO of Bank of America), was Chair of The Haitian Project prior to Deacon Moynihan joining in 1996. It was Brian who brought THP to his brother’s attention. Other siblings have provided everything from architecture support to cars to drive from parish to parish.

Under Deacon Moynihan’s leadership, The Haitian Project has become a nationally supported Catholic mission project by over one thousand individuals, parishes and schools from coast to coast. In 2010, the Most Reverend Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, recognized The Haitian Project as an Association of the Lay Faithful. Louverture Cleary has grown from 65 students to over 360, while maintaining a pass rate for the Baccalaureate (national exam for high school graduates) in excess of 98%.

In addition, The Haitian Project has created a very successful university scholarship and job placement program to assist LCS students upon their graduation. During his tenure, The Haitian Project has built significant endowments to secure the future of Louverture Cleary and its scholarship programs. In 2014, The Haitian Project embarked on its fourth capital campaign in preparation for building its second school in Haiti.

He is a nationally recognized speaker on the subjects of Transformational Development guided by Solidarity and Subsidiarity and the ineffectiveness of the Aid-industry and large International Non-Governmental Organizations. He was a weekly columnist for both the Seneca Journal Messenger and Catholic News Agency for over two years where he covered a broad range of everyday topics from the sublime to the absurd.

Deacon Moynihan and his wife Christina, along with their four children, Robert, Mikhaila, Timothy, and Marianna, returned to Haiti in the summer of 2009. In Haiti, Christina Moynihan runs an outreach and women’s empowerment program to help strengthen family structures in the community around the school. In December 2009, the family made the commitment to stay with the mission “ad infinitum”.