By Jay Sorgi • Posted July 22, 2026

Deacon Mario Gonzalez got a surprise call, one that invited him to offer his ordained ministry in an innovative role emerging for some parishes of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

A member of the team in the Strategy Office for the Catholic Church of Philadelphia called Deacon Gonzalez to discuss the role of Parish Life Director at St. Mark Parish in Bristol, which has an estimated 5,500 members.

“As I prayed about it, I’m thinking, ‘This is deeper service to the Church in a parish where I’m needed to help, where I can use my God-given gifts to help out the church, and be able to continue the growth of the parish.”

Deacon Gonzalez, who after discernment applied for and accepted the position, has served at his home parish of Holy Innocents in North Philadelphia since his ordination last year.

Parish life directors are a new position of leadership in parishes of the archdiocese and part of Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez’s vision of the Trust and Hope initiative.

While the first three parish life directors started work in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia last year, many dioceses around the United States have been employing permanent deacons, consecrated religious, or lay persons in these roles for quite some time.

The role empowers a person other than a priest to lead overall management of a local parish. It allows priests, typically from a nearby parish, to focus on sacramental ministry .

Dioceses intend parish life directors to manage and grow a parish’s ministries in the absence of a full-time pastor.

Parish life directors can offset a lack of available priests to be assigned as pastors, especially due to priestly retirements like that of Father Dennis Mooney, St. Mark’s pastor.

Deacon Gonzalez brings a record of extensive experience in both ministry and small business management to his new role.

A husband, father and immigrant from El Salvador, he is a real estate agent with his wife serving as a broker. They have co-run a small family office for more than 25 years.

“God has moved me to understand that my gifts are needed, and mainly just to understand the call to service at a different level where I can be of service to the Church in a way where I’m using my experiences as a real estate agent, as a business manager with finances, operations, marketing and all that entails,” Deacon Gonzalez said.

He will partner with Father Cesar Izaguirre, who will serve as parochial vicar at St. Mark Parish and administer the sacraments.

The deacon’s role is to keep “everything and everyone together, the spiritual things, sacramental things,” he said, as well as stewardship of the parish’s day-to-day operations.

Deacon Gonzalez recognizes he will step into leadership of a bilingual parish that has been a center of the Catholic faith in Bucks County since its cornerstone was laid 180 years ago. The parish also encompasses the nearby St. Ann Church, a worship site.

“I was talking to some of the members two weeks ago. A lot of them are generations upon generations of families that have been coming in to baptize their kids, marry their spouses,” he said.

“I’m listening to this family say, ‘My grandfather came here in the 1800s, and then my great-grandfather came before him, and (he) helped by building the church with his hands.’ It makes me think of the power of faith, what you understand that God can do for you, and to use your hands to not only put a building together, but a family together.”

Deacon Gonzalez understands that his role is not just to simply be a caretaker of a parish in lieu of a priest, but to lead as a missionary disciple, building up the Church to draw more disciples and bring the Gospel into everyday life.

He believes that anyone who enters such a role needs to make that vision their primary calling.

“Everything else comes into play and is very important, of course, but the vision itself is for parishioners to have this encounter with Christ, for everyone to feel like they have encountered Christ, that they understand that this is what the mission of the Church is in a universal way,” he said.

“We have all the beautiful sacraments available that keeps these people going and knowing that they’re entering into a loving relationship, and not just at the level of the parish itself but the entire universal Church.”