Fr. Jordan Sanchez ’11 was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe on May 22, 2021. Upon his assignment as associate pastor to Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Community in Santa Fe in June, he began his own unique plan of working his way into the hearts of his new parishioners.

“I’m an amature barista, I can even do the coffee art,” he said in a November 2021 interview outside his regular coffee shop in Downtown Albuquerque, Castle Coffee. “I use it as a means to bring people together at my parish.”

Dressed in his black cassock and circular-brimmed rounded felt hat, he pays for his coffee with his smart watch. When a lady walking by his sidewalk table with her dog asks how he stays cool, he tells her he’s wearing cargo shorts as his base layer. 

In Santa Fe, he also is working his way into the parish community by inviting himself to parishioners’ houses. “I offer to cook them dinner if they have me over,” he said. “You can’t be a spiritual father to someone you don’t know.”

Sanchez is excited to begin his work as a priest. 

“I experience God’s merciful love in my own life through the Mass and the sacraments and I want others to experience that as well,” he said. “And even though I’m the 28-year-old whippersnapper, people have faith that God is going to work through me.”

As a student at St. Pius X High School, he says he never considered the priesthood. He was sent by his parents to St. Pius not because it was a Catholic school, but because it was a college prep school. “Theology at St. Pius sparked an interest in my Catholic faith, but I was still not all in,” he said.

However, at the encouragement of his senior year theology teacher, Rania Garnem, he arrived at the University of New Mexico and joined a campus club called CAFE — Catholic Apologetics, Fellowship and Evangelization.

“For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by people my age who cared a lot about the Catholic faith,” he said. Joined by three other St. Pius X 2011 graduates — William Tapia ’11, Ralph Pesce ’11 and Jaime Rodriguez ’11 — he formed deep friendships and a base for exploring the faith. 

“We were learning in a deep way why we believe what we believe, and the support of great friends helped build me up in faith and in virtue,” he said.

He and his classmates also worked at this time with Immaculate Conception Church in Downtown Albuquerque to start a young adult group. Fr. Patrick Hough, S.J. provided insight into the spiritual aspects of what the students were learning on an intellectual and theological level at the club. “He got us to sing in the choir and got me to altar serve for the first time,” Sanchez said. “My favorite part of the week was to altar serve and be close to God. And little by little this tug began to grow in my heart toward the priesthood.”

Fr. Hough told the young men about a vocation discernment weekend held by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe at the beginning of 2012. Sanchez attended to “check it out.” At the end of the retreat, they announced that those attending would receive a letter letting them know if they had been accepted into the seminary. It was an unexpected end of the retreat for Sanchez, as many people he had shared his interest in the priesthood with before the retreat thought it would be reasonable to finish at UNM first.

“That threw me off,” he said. “But for weeks after, I prayed and I realized that I did want to be accepted now. If I knew He was calling me, how could I delay?”

It was with great joy that he received their acceptance letter. However, his decision was a surprise to everyone. His parents first thought was, “No grandchildren.” But they quickly gave their full support.

In the Fall of 2012 he entered Holy Trinity Seminary at the University of Dallas and over those four years, the tug on his heart deepened and matured. All of his classes were with regular students at the University of Dallas. “One of the beautiful things about this university was the opportunity to form deep friendships with Catholic women my own age,” he said. At one point he met someone that he thought he could marry. “But that tug on my heart was so much stronger. I’m not shunning marriage, but choosing between two good and beautiful things in my life. Believing I had a true calling from God, I had to say yes to that and no to another wonderful thing.”

Sanchez earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2016 and was sent to finish the second half of seminary at Mount Angel Seminary in Portland, Ore., where he completed his intensive theological and pastoral training. He completed his nine years of seminary training in 2021 and returned to New Mexico to be ordained and begin his ministry.

Influential on his path were his St. Pius X teachers Rania  Garnem and Lorcan MacMurchadha. “They had the greatest lasting impact on me,” Sanchez said. “I keep in touch with them to this day.”

His advice to students? “Listen to the little tugs on your heart, the good desires of your heart, and don’t be afraid to follow them,” he said. “Also, you have seen how greatly I attribute the environment I was in to hearing God’s voice. If you’re putting yourself in an environment not conducive to that, don’t expect to have clarity.”