PORTLAND---Bishop Robert P. Deeley is pleased to announce that Maureen Provencher has been named the new director of youth and young adult ministry for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, effective September 14.
A Biddeford native, Provencher is currently a senior regional sales representative for RCL Benziger Catholic Publishing, providing catechetical expertise to sixteen Catholic dioceses, including the training of adult catechetical leaders and volunteer catechists for their ministry to children and their families.
“A product of youth ministry in the Diocese of Portland, I am eager to provide the same opportunities that I had for our young Church, enabling our young Catholics to experience the holy within and around them, and to put their faith into action,” said Provencher. “I am also eager to strengthen the bonds among, and support, youth ministers and others on the parish level to journey with the young Church. Together, we can call the young to greater participation into the life and mission of the Church, showing them the way in which Jesus has called us to live.”
“We are thrilled to have someone with such proven administrative and pastoral experience joining the diocesan team,” said Maryanne Harrington, director of the diocesan office of lifelong faith formation. “Parishes, schools, and diocesan offices around the country have benefited from Maureen’s approaches to evangelization and catechesis. I am certain that her skills and natural energy will have a positive impact on the youth, young adults, and parish leaders throughout our diocese.”
Provencher’s experience working with young Maine Catholics dates back to 1992, when she was named the director of youth ministry for St. Louis Parish in Fort Kent. From 1994 to 1996, she worked as a pastoral associate for St. Mary Parish in Wells and has experience at the diocesan level, having served as the director for youth ministry for the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, from 1996-2000. From 2000 to 2003, she served as the director of ministry for youth at St. Mary Parish in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. In 2003, Provencher was appointed New England regional manager of blood donor recruitment for Hemacare Corporation/Coral Blood Services in Scarborough, where she managed and supervised separate staffs at three centers before joining RCL Benziger in 2006.
She is also a published author, having written Never Too Young to Lead; Leadership for Early Adolescents in 2006, and Mysteries in My Hands: Young People, Life and the Rosary in 2005, in addition to contributing on several other books. Provencher holds a bachelor’s degree in religious studies, with a concentration in liturgical studies and elementary education, from St. Michael’s College in Vermont.