By Jay Sorgi • Posted February 19, 2025

Many modern leadership programs train directors, managers, and other leaders to make the example of their lives speak loudest in how they shepherd others. In today’s business parlance, it’s called “modeling the way.”

Dennis Mueller, the recently named director of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Catechetical Formation, gives the impression that he wants to lead the archdiocese’s elementary school principals, teachers, catechists,  and directors of religious education (DREs) by his own example.

He wants to be present to their faith lives, their own challenges, joys, and journeys with Jesus, by creating encounters with Christ for them and modeling the ways they can be present to the young people they are serving.

“The challenge with this type of a position, (and) the goal of all catechesis, is to foster an encounter with Christ Jesus, whether it’s liturgy, whether it’s CCD, whether it’s Catholic education. We can kind of get caught up in the nuts and bolts of things and we produce programs and we teach curriculum. Sometimes that encounter kind of gets lost in the shuffle,” said Mueller.

“There’s a passion and a vision to reconnect with that primary goal, which is fostering that encounter with Christ Jesus in the work that we do.”

Mueller, brings 31 years of experience in religious education and adult faith formation into his new role.  For most of that time has been a member and leader of the Archdiocesan Association of Parish Directors, Coordinators, and Administrators of Religious Education (PD/C/ARE).

Father Stephen DeLacy, as vicar of the archdiocesan Office for Faith Formation with Youth and Young Adults, praised Mueller’s “exceptional organizational skills and (his) ability to build strong relationships,” which will enable Mueller to “guide the office into a new season of growth and collaboration,” he said in a letter announcing the appointment.

Father DeLacy said Mueller will begin his role on a part-time basis, balancing his responsibilities between the office and St. Albert the Great Parish in Huntingdon Valley, where he will finish his current work leading the PREP program at that parish through June of this year.

Wanda Nouel, who had been serving as interim director of the office, will continue to work alongside Mueller during the time of transition to support him in all aspects of the ministry, according to Father DeLacy.

When he settles in, Mueller will be responsible for the religion curriculum for the elementary schools and for the parish religious education programs (PREP) throughout the Archdiocese.

That’s a lot of nuts and bolts used to build faith formation  for young people in Philadelphia.

But what about the leaders and teachers themselves, those who will bring Christ-encounters to those young people? That’s what Mueller sees as the centerpiece of his role — care for the spiritual lives of those who are present to young lives. It’s a role that’s most important to him.

“It begins by providing those who are in those positions with the opportunity to encounter the Lord themselves,” he said. “Once they begin to have that encounter with the Lord, then they can begin to see how they can foster it with their kids, because they’ve experienced it themselves.”

Mueller admits the ease of falling into a trap that so many of us do on a daily basis: the focus on the task at hand and not the personal and spiritual state of the task-doer.

He admitted that at one time, he worked in churches where the entrance was 50 feet away from his office, and he couldn’t find time to go inside and receive spiritual nourishment because of his responsibilities.

“I think so often in our ministry, we can get just so lost in our desire to do our job, that we don’t take care of our own spiritual needs sometimes. We’re just running from one to-do list to the next, and all of these things that we have tied into our calendar, and we can end up going the entire day and not really just resting in the Lord in prayer,” he said.

“Part of our job is going to be looking at how we can provide opportunities for our teachers, our catechists, our principals, our DREs to encounter Christ Jesus themselves, and then provide them with the skill set and the tools needed to begin to do that with their youth.”

Mueller, who has a background in psychological counseling, hopes to foster greater relationship between God and each faith leader. Relationship is how he refers to the charism he brings to this job, and perhaps it’s the foundation for his plans as director.

“I have a tendency when I am working, whether I’m working with parents, whether I’m working with students, whether I’m doing adult faith formation or (giving) a talk or a presentation, my approach is much simpler. It’s very relational,” he said.

“I have a passion to do that because that’s where it touches people’s hearts, and I think that’s where they can begin to encounter the Lord.”

It’s Mueller’s hope that such relational and personal faith formation, tied closely with religious curriculum development, will put these faith leaders into daily positions of fostering young people’s encounters with God.

“The motto of the office is, ‘It’s teaching, it’s forming, it’s sending’ — teaching others and equipping them with the faith of Christ Jesus, forming them in a relationship with Christ Jesus, and then sending them out as missionary disciples,” he said.

“They can begin to form their students and create a culture in their PREP programs, in their schools, where Christ Jesus is very much encountered, not just occasionally but on a daily basis in those classrooms.”