Ellen Hogarty is the president of Our Lady’s Youth Center (OLYC), a charitable non-profit organization that operates ministries on the U.S./Mexican border. Ellen attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville, where she met Jesuit Fr. Rick Thomas, founder of OLYC, when he visited the campus. Ellen joined other students on a mission trip to the Lord’s Ranch to serve the poor with Fr. Rick’s community and found her life’s calling. She has spent the last 40 years as a missionary with this Catholic lay apostolate.

Trained in giving the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Ellen directs many individual and group retreats. She graduated from the Alleluia School of Spiritual Direction in Augusta, Georgia, and now teaches there and at other schools for spiritual direction around the country. 

Ellen is currently writing a book about the life and spirituality of Fr. Rick Thomas as her community pursues the cause for his canonization.