Associate Director, Family Life and Spirituality

Name: Diocese of San Diego, Pastoral Center

Location: 3888 Paducah Drive, San Diego, CA 92117

Reports to: Director, Family Life and Spirituality  

Employment Type: Full Time (Office hours are 8:30am – 4:30pm. This position entails frequent evening and weekend work)  

FLSA Status: Exempt

Salary: $70,304/yr.

Position Overview

The Associate Director of Family Spirituality collaborates with parishes and provides leadership in the development of programs that support the spiritual life of families.

Primary Responsibilities

• Collaborate with members of the Family Life team to implement the diocesan vision and priorities for family life ministry in service to parishes and families. 
• Collaborate with parish leadership to identify and implement strategies that foster a parish culture of faith, welcome, and meaningful family participation in the life of the Church. 
• Collaborate with other pastoral offices.
• Lead diocesan marriage preparation retreats and provide support, resources, and guidance to parishes in strengthening their marriage preparation ministries.
• Collaborate with the Diocesan Mental Health Ministry Network leadership to support existing parish mental health ministries, provide resources and guidance, and assist in developing new parish ministries. 
• Develop, share, and promote multicultural resources that enable parishes to effectively engage families from diverse backgrounds. 
• Support and accompany existing diocesan and parish family life ministries while building collaborative relationships with ministry leaders throughout the diocese. 
• Research and cultivate partnerships with family ministries, organizations, and other resources that can support and enrich the lives of families.
• Identify and develop experiences, programs, and resources that help parishes educate, evangelize, and accompany children and their families in the faith. 
• Identify and develop pastoral approaches to minister to families who are alone, isolated, or on the margins of parish communities. 
• Develop and facilitate workshops, presentations, and formation opportunities that strengthen family spirituality and encourage families to live their faith at home. 
• Participate in and/or lead diocesan task forces and initiatives related to family life, while fostering connections and collaboration with multicultural communities throughout the diocese. 
• Communicate effectively across multiple platforms, including digital communications and social media, to promote family life resources, programs, and initiatives.

• Active, practicing Catholic with extensive knowledge of and commitment to the teachings, mission, and life of the Catholic Church. 
• Highly self-motivated, creative, collaborative, and energetic, with the ability to take initiative and bring new ideas to ministry. 
• Strong interpersonal and relational skills, with demonstrated leadership in community building and ministry development. 
• Demonstrated spiritual and emotional maturity, with the ability to approach individuals and families with compassion, discretion, and respect. 
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with diverse constituencies, including clergy, parish leadership, diocesan staff, volunteers, and ministry leaders. 
• Strong cross-cultural competency. 
• Empathetic understanding of the diverse realities, needs, and challenges facing families today. 
• Strong organizational and administrative skills, including time management, planning, delegation, budgeting, prioritization, and the ability to manage multiple projects and responsibilities simultaneously.

Education & Experience

• Master’s degree preferred; if not, BA in Theology or Ministry required 
• Five years or more of experience working for a Catholic organization preferred 
• Marriage preparation experience preferred
• Parish experience preferred 
• Bilingual; verbal and written fluency in Spanish or additional languages.

Physical Demands

While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to be in an office at a computer workstation and access information from a computer and use a telephone. The employee is also regularly required to perform moderate manual labor including frequent bending, walking and lifting and/or moving up to 50 pounds. The employee is required to be mobile to, from, and within the pastoral center, as well as maneuver throughout the facility to attend meetings, briefings, and other work-related events. The employee will be required to conduct trips to, from, and within various city and county-wide locations to attend meetings or events.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Please note this position description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

The Catholic Diocese of San Diego is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, gender, national origin, genetics, disability, age or veteran status.

Notice of AI Use in Job Application Review

As part of our commitment in creating a fair, efficient, and consistent hiring process we may use artificial intelligence (AI) to help our recruiting teams organize, summarize, and analyze information provided by candidates, including resumes, application responses, and other materials submitted during the application process.AI may be used to identify patterns, highlight relevant skills, and experience, and assist in comparing a candidate’s qualifications with the requirement of a specific role. These tools are to improve efficiency and consistency while supporting more informed hiring decisions, which will ultimately be made by the hiring team.