The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is pleased to announce that Mrs. Paola Cubides Herrera has been appointed Assistant Director of the Office for the New Evangelization effective Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
As the Assistant Director, Mrs. Herrera will work closely with Ms. Meghan Cokeley, Director of the Office for the New Evangelization, on all programs and initiatives. In particular, she will oversee the maintenance and growth of major evangelization ministries in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, such as ChristLife and Evangelical Catholic in addition to others.
She will also be responsible for various projects emerging from the newly-formed Archbishop’s Commission for Missionary Disciples. Her presence will allow the Office for the New Evangelization to work within the Hispanic communities of the Archdiocese to launch new movements of missionary disciple formation.
Mrs. Herrera was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. In 2002 she traveled to New York City to study English. While studying in New York, she met her husband and moved to Philadelphia in 2003. She has two sons, Lucas, 17, and Oscar, 14.
Mrs. Herrera holds a Bachelors of Arts in Business from Externado de Colombia University and a Masters of Science in Church Management from Villanova University. She previously worked at the Catholic Institute of Evangelization, the Office of Population Research (OPR) at Princeton University, and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Cultural Ministries Office. In addition, she served as the Director of Hispanic Ministry at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Doylestown. She is also fluent in Spanish.
Ms. Cokeley remarked, “I am so grateful to Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez for creating this new position for the Office for the New Evangelization. It demonstrates very concretely his sincere commitment to the Church’s primary mission of making missionary disciples. I am particularly happy that Mrs. Herrera has accepted this position. We have been colleagues and friends for a number of years. She has excellent organization skills, is a true leader and above all, her heart is on fire for Jesus Christ and His Church.”
She went on to say that, “Mrs. Herrera will be an excellent co-laborer for the Gospel! One of the many gifts that she brings to the office is that she is fluent in both English and Spanish. This will allow the work of the Office for the New Evangelization to expand much more intentionally into our many Hispanic communities here in the Archdiocese. Mrs. Herrera and I are excited to begin building relationships with the beautiful apostolates already present in the Hispanic community and we hope to be of service in launching new initiatives that form and equip missionary disciples.”
CatholicPhilly.com, the official digital news agency of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia recently published an Op-Ed by Ms. Cokeley regarding Mrs. Herrera’s appointment. To read the full text of the article, please click the dedicated link below.
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Editor’s Note: To learn more about the Office for the New Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, please visit https://www.phillyevang.org/.