By Jay Sorgi • Posted July 22, 2026

Deacon John Teson is venturing into new territory for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as he begins to lead a pair of Bucks County parishes.

He spent day one of his new role as parish life director at both Holy Trinity and St. John the Evangelist Parishes in Morrisville doing the mundane tasks many workers do on their first day: learning technology and setting up login passwords.

“I’m still trying to find out where the bathroom is,” Deacon Teson joked.

“I need to get to know the people, to introduce myself, to get them to understand who I am and how this is different than a priest-in-a-pastor role,” Deacon Teson said about the role that is a very new position in the Archdiocese and a result of the Trust and Hope initiative.

Parish life directors are a new position of leadership in parishes of the archdiocese that empowers a person other than a priest to lead overall management of a local parish and grow the parish’s ministries in the absence of a full-time pastor.

Deacon Teson, who was ordained in 2015, said that many people are thrilled to know not only that their parishes won’t be closed, but that the four priests and three deacons he’ll be working with can become more free to administer the sacraments of the Church.

He described the role simply to a parishioner by asking if she’d ever spoken with a priest who had to end the conversation because he was called away to resolve an administrative matter. The woman recalled just such an experience.

“Now (when) that conversation happens, I take care of the problem and you can keep talking to the priest,” Deacon Teson told her. “She looked at me and (said), ‘Oh my gosh!’” confirming that she now understood his new role better.

The native of native of Reading, Pa. moved to Northeast Philadelphia nearly 40 years ago, where he and his wife Juliane have been married 36 years and raised two children.

He believes his ministry background and business experience working in engineering has formed him well for the task at hand, from the earthly work of getting a boiler fixed to the lofty goal of forming disciples.

He says that he always wanted to work in some capacity for the Church upon retirement. Previously he had received his undergraduate degree in management and marketing from Holy Family University in Philadelphia, followed by a master’s degree in church management from Villanova University in 2022. That led to a business manager’s position at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Penndel.

A call from the archdiocesan Strategy Office then led him to this new ministry.

“The Archdiocese reached out to me, and they said, ‘This is kind of what you’re already doing,’” Deacon Teson said. “They said, ‘John, you might want to do this.’”

Possibility turned into reality for the deacon who said he needs to learn the ropes at his new parishes before he can strategically develop new ministries or augment current ones.

He understands, however, that missionary discipleship at a broad level expands beyond verbalizing the faith.

“It’s not just proclaiming Jesus Christ, standing on a corner, quoting Bible verses. It’s the way we live and the way we act, that we are different, and society should see that by the way we live and react,” he said.

“This role is meant to help parishes build more of those.”

Deacon Teson says that such discipleship includes reaching out to the 83 percent of Catholics who aren’t actively involved in the sacramental life in the Archdiocese, and to help them see that they need to make time and space in their lives for their eternal journey.

“It should change the way we live in the way we act, and it should say, ‘I know the mortgage is important, I know getting the kids to baseball practice is important, but so is my eternal life,” he said. “If it’s important to you, you will find time.”

He knows that discipleship among his parishioners won’t come from his own vision, but from God’s will and how it manifests itself through those who attend Mass and engage in their parish.

Deacon Teson said that ultimately, Holy Trinity and St. John the Evangelist parishes don’t belong to him.

“This is their parish, and they’re the ones that (are) going to have to go out. They know the people, they know the culture, and they know everything around,” he said.

“I’m just trying to support them and help them to go out and be missionary disciples.”