Mr. Patrick McGarry, who was a 2007 Mount Carmel graduate, has returned home to Mount Carmel as a theology teacher in an attempt to, “Show that a typical Mount Carmel guy can have a passion for theological virtues.” McGarry will be teaching junior theology this year in room M204, which happened to be a classroom that was completed in the same year he graduated.

McGarry has hit the ground running as he already is an assistant coach on the rugby team and the head coach of the sevens rugby team (sevens takes place with 7 players as opposed to 15 in regular rugby). Along with being a coach, McGarry plans to chaperone the March for Life this winter, along with some Kairos retreats. McGarry is a moderator for JPIC, which is an acronym for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of God’s Creation.  McGarry’s responsibilities continue as he is working to organize the volleyball portion of the Special Olympics which will be held at Mount Carmel.

The Mount Carmel roots are very strong in the McGarry family as his father has had six brothers plus himself attend Mount Carmel before him, but for him it was Br. Daryll who put him on the track to start teaching. “He was a big influence on my life he helped bring God into my life.” McGarry’s father and grandfather are both members of Mount Carmel’s Hall of Fame.

McGarry grew up on the South Side of Chicago attending Queen of Martyrs Grammar School. After graduating from Mount Carmel McGarry went to culinary school in order to fill a dream of opening his own bar and grill, but McGarry quickly realized that was not what he wanted to do with his life.

McGarry went on to attend Illinois State University, and finally Saint Xavier University where he graduated with a degree in philosophy and religious studies.

After graduating from college, McGarry moved around to a few jobs that all involved teaching or religious studies. McGarry worked at the Owasippe Scout Reservation as the reservation chaplain, where he ran weekly prayer services for scouts. He went on to be a substitute teacher and a religious education teacher before landing at Mount Carmel in the winter of last school year.

When McGarry is not helping the students of Mount Carmel, he can often be found doing his hobby of building custom bean bag boards. He has built boards with Mount Carmel, Blackhawks, and White Sox just to name a few. McGarry also built promotional bean bag boards for the company Turtle Wax; these boards are taken around the country helping promote Turtle Wax.