In this episode of The Church Podcast, Christopher sits down with Marisally Santiago, Director of the Office of Ministry with Youth (OMY) for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Marisally shares her winding path into ministry — from growing up in a Puerto Rican family in Central Florida, to a 20-year career in graphic design (including hand-painting signage at Walt Disney World), to stepping into full-time diocesan leadership in the middle of the pandemic. She and Christopher have worked together for over five years, and this conversation traces how her creative background and her own formation as a teenager in Pastoral Juvenil shaped the ministry she leads today.
Together, Christopher and Marisally explore the "blank canvas" she walked into in Philadelphia, the YCOPI program she built on an accompaniment and protagonism model, and what it actually takes to hold cultural particularity and parish-wide unity in balance rather than treating them as an either/or.
This conversation is a grounded, hope-filled look at what happens when dioceses give young people real ownership — not just a seat at the table, but the pen to help draw the picture.
In This Episode
About Marisally Santiago
Marisally Santiago is the Director of the Office of Ministry with Youth (OMY) for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a role she has held since 2020. Before Philadelphia, she served the Archdiocese of Newark's Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, first as a volunteer coordinator of Pastoral Juvenil Hispana and then in a full-time role, after earning her master's in pastoral ministry from Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall. Her ministry roots go back to age 13, when her mother started a youth ministry program in their parish. Before entering full-time ministry, Marisally spent over 20 years as a graphic designer, including production design and project management work at Walt Disney World.
Resources Mentioned
Connect with Marisally
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