Deacon John “Skip” Manley, one of the longest-serving deacons in the Archdiocese of Baltimore with 48 years at one parish, St. John the Evangelist in Frederick, died July 12 at age 84.
Deacon Manley was the first deacon ordained at St. John and among the earliest deacons of the archdiocese since the first group was ordained in 1971. Pope Paul VI restored the permanent diaconate in 1967.
He was ordained by Bishop P. Francis Murphy, auxiliary bishop of Baltimore, on June 19, 1976.
Deacon Manley’s life of service included teaching Rite of Christian Initiation classes and Pre-Cana marriage preparation course. He was an advocate for the archdiocese’s marriage tribunal for 23 years. He also served as a chaplain at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, and was the mission coordinator at St. Ignatius Parish in Urbana from 1985 to 1986.
Born in Frostburg on Nov. 18, 1939, he was the son of John F. and Mary P. Manley. He attended Potomac State College in Keyser, W.Va., on an ROTC scholarship and graduated from Fairmont State University, where he played varsity soccer, in 1962.
After two years of Navy service on the destroyer USS Mansfield, he earned a master’s degree in counseling at American University in Washington, D.C., and began a career with the state of Maryland as a director of juvenile services and adult probation, retiring in 1995. After that, he helped launch a program for alternative sentencing with the Frederick County sheriff’s office and Frederick County District Court,
He married the former Carol Anderson in August 1965; she preceded him in death in August 2013. Her service to St. John’s included being the first woman Eucharistic minister and lector there. He also was predeceased by a grandson, Nicholas Jarvis.
In his spare time, Deacon Manley taught obedience classes at the Catoctin Kennel Club in Point of Rocks and at Breakaway Action Dogs in Frederick.
Joe Swiss, director of liturgy at St. John’s, remembered Deacon Manley for his “Christ-like modeling” and for being “a person people felt they could come to for help, for an ear, for support.”
He especially recalled Deacon Manley’s steady demeanor in the face of conflicts.
“An event had happened and a person in the parish had a strong reaction to the event. He came at Skip and loudly let Skip know how he felt about it. Skip listened to the person and then very calmly said, ‘Are you finished? Do you feel better? Now, can we talk about this?’
“He then engaged the person in a conversation. That was Skip’s style. He respected everyone who came to him whether he agreed with them or not. It was never about him. It was about what was best to be done for all.”
Deacon Michael Currens called Deacon Manley “a role model and mentor” and “an integral part of our parish.” His ministry “included weddings and funerals … and of course, weekend Masses and regular preaching.
“Skip loved his dogs and did field training and retrieving with them. He also would regularly bless the hounds for a local foxhunting group. He saw their love and faithfulness as a sign of God’s goodness,” Deacon Currens said.
“Once he couldn’t make the blessing of the hounds due to a scheduling conflict and he asked me to fill in. It was a memorable morning to see the mounted riders in their livery and the pack of hounds that moved as a group. Skip rightly warned me about the hounds that would investigate me and try to mark me as part of the pack!”
Surviving are three children: son John F. Manley and wife Betsy of Frederick, and daughters Mary Jarvis and husband Darren of Adamstown, and Anne Manley of Cleveland; sister Maureen Spearman and husband Barney of Dayton, Ohio; and grandchildren Maggie Manley, Rachel Jarvis and Pasha Manley.
A Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled for July 19 at St. John’s, with interment at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Editor’s note: This story was updated July 19, 2024, at 8:20 p.m. to correct the spelling of Deacon Currens’ name.
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