NEW! Happy St. Valentine's Day: Office of Marriage and Family Life is Resurrected.

 VOCAL.  Our Archdiocese has an Office of Marriage and Family Life once again.  In 1998 Archbishop Emeritus John Vlazny hired Jay Wonacott for this Office at the same time he became the Archbishop.  But by 2007 the Office of Marriage and Family Life and Jay slowly began to die in the Archdpdx.  Thanks to Archbishop Alexander Sample, the value of marriage and family life is resurrected.  If you'd like to contact the Archbishop his address is
2838 East Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97214 or 503.234.5334


 Archdiocese re-sparks marriage and family life office

Jason Kidd

LAKE OSWEGO — A longtime youth minister will lead the Archdiocese of Portland’s reactivated Office of Marriage and Family Life. Jason Kidd, director of youth ministry at Our Lady of the Lake Parish here assumes the Portland post March 3.

“Marriage and family life is a key pastoral priority for the Church in western Oregon, and restarting the Office of Marriage and Family Life brings me great joy,” says Archbishop Alexander Sample.

The archbishop says Kidd, 33, has been an “exemplary” youth minister and will provide “great service” to pastors and parishes.

“As the Church considers marriage and family issues on the universal and national level with the upcoming Synod on the Family and the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, we are blessed to give more dedicated attention to marriages and families here on the local level,” Archbishop Sample says.

Kidd quoted Pope Francis, saying the Church has a lot of room to grow in how it serves people considering the vocation of marriage and family. Marriage preparation and baptism - those are key moments to welcome Catholics who have strayed, to invite them into the life of the Church. In that sense, Kidd said, the diocesan office is very much connected to the New Evangelization.

“I’m excited to connect with parishes,” he said. “Coming from a parish, I understand that there’s an opportunity for the archdiocese to really support our parishes.”

Kidd hopes to be out of the office as much as possible, talking to pastors and vicariate groups, meeting volunteers, and polling Catholics about how diocesan marriage and family services can be improved.

Kidd grew up in Arizona and studied electrical engineering at Northern Arizona University. It was during his college years that he began to explore the depth of his Catholic faith and felt called to serve in ministry full time. He moved to Oregon in 2005 and completed a master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2011.

Kidd and his wife Sarah have four children.