Mary Virginia Merrick (November 2, 1866 – January 10, 1955), born in Washington, DC, was a pioneer in American Catholic social reform.

At age 20, despite being paralyzed from a fall, she started the Christ Child Society in 1887 to provide for needy infants, children, and their families in the Washington, D.C. area.

[1] Richard Merrick was a well-known lawyer, a founder of Georgetown University Law Center, and a descendant of former Maryland Governor Leonard Calvert.

Merrick grew up in a devoutly-Catholic environment fostered by her parents and was educated by French nurses and tutors who stressed the Catholic tradition and piety.

The original Society of 1887 consisted of Merrick's family members and friends, growing to become fully active in distributing layettes and garments and answering Christmas letter requests in 1890.

The Christ Child Society was formally incorporated in 1903,[7] marked with a published mission of providing improved instruction and relief for needy children in Washington, then a segregated city, "regardless of race, creed, or color".

In the decade to follow, the Society would purchase a permanent Fresh Air Farm in Silver Spring, Maryland, which later led to several summer camps.

In contrast, others have praised her for giving black members a representative on the society's board and autonomy in making decisions about internal operations when African-American rights were severely limited in many other aspects of life.

[9] In April 2011, Donald Cardinal Wuerl, a former Archbishop of Washington, officially opened the Archdiocesan process through a decree that stated he was "initiating the cause of beatification and canonization of the Servant of God, Mary Virginia Merrick".

In 2007, the Mary Virginia Merrick Center, an Out-of-School safe place that operates as a community and youth recreational facility for children and families opened in Washington D.C.[12]