The Office for Parish Life of the Diocese of Scranton is an integrated resource team in service to all aspects of Parish Life: Word, Worship, Community, and Service.  Members of our team work directly on-site in parishes to provide leadership formation, spiritual renewal, program design and resourcing, training for people in all types of parish ministry, and consulting on specific parish needs.  Throughout the liturgical year, the Office for Parish Life provides regional and Diocesan level events for ministry formation, youth and young adult engagement, and networking among peer groups of parish ministry leaders.

The charter and vision for the Office for Parish Life Team comes from the 2011 Pastoral Letter of Bishop Bambera, Wounded and Loved, Re-gathering the Scattered. In his words:

“Pastoral leadership encourages the fullest possible collaboration of clergy, religious and laity, men and women, in the common mission of the Church. This collaboration is possible only with the support of appropriate structures which both insure participation in decision-making and facilitate involvement in ministry.”

We look to the parish as the center of Catholic Christian life – where members and their families are fed and formed for mission by means of immersion in a community fluent in the language of discipleship.  From the Bishop’s pastoral letter, we pursue these stated goals:

  • To align all of our resources, activities and energies with three evangelization goals: to live our faith fully, to share it freely with others, and to transform the world in Christ;
  • To call forth the Baptized to assume positions of servant leadership; and,
  • To foster the spirit of co-responsibility – supporting each parish in its unique journey to becoming a fully participative community of lived faith.