By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
After a leap of faith led him to the seminary and — almost a decade of formation later — to his ordination as a priest of the Diocese of Dallas on May 23, Father Jeremy Maness has some well-earned wisdom for anyone discerning a vocation: Don’t let uncertainty about the destination delay the journey.
“Take a step,” the new priest advised.
In the pursuit of his own vocation, that first step came in the form of a weekend discernment event he attended during his senior year of high school. At the time, Father Maness’ personal call to the priesthood was far from a foregone conclusion. The then-teenager did not yet know where life would take him; and as he turned his thoughts toward the nebulous future, a deep anxiety crept in.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on, and so I would talk to family and friends and mentors, and I prayed about it,” Father Maness recalled. “I was just a little frustrated and confused and not sure what I was supposed to do with myself.”
At the invitation of a friend from his home parish of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Frisco, the senior decided to attend the Diocese of Dallas’ “Come and See” event, a discernment weekend hosted at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving.
After stepping foot onto the seminary campus, the highschooler quickly found himself immersed in the prayer, formation, and fellowship of the place. Soon, the cloud of anxiety that had hung so thickly over him dispersed. He felt peace — a sense of belonging.
“I didn’t see the next nine years ahead of me completely. I just knew that God did something special here, and I needed to explore it,” Father Maness said. “I couldn’t, in good conscience, do anything else with my life until I had given this serious consideration.”
Following God’s path
Unsure of his future but confident that God was calling him for a time to consider the path of priesthood, Father Maness took a step forward in his vocation journey, joining Holy Trinity Seminary following his high school graduation.
“From the beginning, he struck me as a man who listens deeply to the Lord, to the Church, and to the people entrusted to him,” said Father Tony Lackland, pastor of Christ the King Catholic Parish, who served as vice rector during the early years of Father Maness’ formation at HTS. “His vocation has always carried a steadiness — restless at times — but it was steady discernment about the Lord calling him to the priesthood, the kind that comes from someone, I would say, who truly allows Christ to shape his heart.”
Reflecting on those years in seminary — first at Holy Trinity Seminary, then at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans — Father Maness recalled with gratitude the many “unexpected blessings” that flowed from his formation, including through his encounters with unhoused members of the local community.
“Any Dallas seminarian you grab these days could tell you three or four stories of amazing things that have happened on the streets,” he said. The point of the ministry, the new priest emphasized, is not primarily material; rather, seminarians seek to be the face of Christ to all they meet on the streets, encountering each person with love. “That’s what we’ve tried to do, and (I have) been blessed to make many friends on the streets, both with people we encounter and people I’ve served with.”
As Father Maness continued to move forward in his formation, spurred by a spirit of love, there were several moments when his vocation “shown through without him even realizing it,” according to Father Lackland — not only in his kind treatment of those he encountered through his ministry but also in his dealings with fellow seminarians. Often, Father Maness could be found supporting struggling classmates, for example, and offering them encouragement without fanfare, the pastor said.
“I think Jeremy really has a heart for people that are in a difficult place or in a challenging way,” Father Maness’ mother, C.C. Maness, said, echoing the sentiment. She added that, even as early as childhood, “he would go out towards the lost and the lonely.”
Following his diaconate ordination in 2025, Father Maness began serving the community of Prince of Peace Catholic Parish in Plano, where he brought that same loving presence to a new faith family.
“It’s remarkable how much of the skill set transfers between talking to someone on the street, someone in a hospital bed, someone who’s having a personal crisis and wandered in the nearest church they could find,” Father Maness reflected. “You learn to regard everyone as they are in the eyes of God … to strip away your assumptions and expectations about the people you’re going to encounter and just start from a place of love.”
An ‘exciting beginning’
After years of saying “yes” to each new step on his vocation journey, Father Maness was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Dallas this May at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in McKinney.
“It’s just a good time to reflect,” Father Maness said of the occasion, “and be thankful for the last nine years.”
The sacrament, he noted, marked an ending of sorts — the conclusion of almost a decade of seminarian formation — but also an “exciting beginning” for the new priest, who has been appointed to serve as parochial vicar of Holy Family of Nazareth Catholic Parish in Irving.
“He will love being a priest, and people will see that,” C.C. said of her son. “He will bring the joy about it and a freshness and a happiness.”
Father Lackland, similarly, expressed a “great joy” that the people of God in North Texas will receive in Father Maness a priest who will love them — and love God — with his whole heart.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him celebrate the sacraments with reverence, preach with conviction, and really walk with the people in their joys and sorrows,” Father Lackland said. “It’s a beautiful thing to watch a man step into the vocation God has been preparing for him all along.”
Cutline for featured image: Father Jeremy Maness is vested by Father Alfred Asuncion, left, and Father Zachary Webb, right, during Father Maness’ ordination to the priesthood on May 23 at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in McKinney. (MICHAEL GRESHAM/The Texas Catholic)
