Father Milton Edward Jordan, a priest for more than 50 years, died Jan. 16 at Grace House in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was 84 years old.
A native of Washington, he was born June 2, 1941, to Margaret Theresa and Milton Edward Jordan, Sr., both of whom are now deceased.
Father Jordan attended Loyola Seminary in Shrub Oak, New York and the Jesuit Novitiate in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. He was ordained a priest for the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) on June 3, 1972, in Baltimore.
As a Jesuit priest, Father Jordan’s first assignment was as an instructor and later assistant headmaster at Fordham Prep School in the Bronx, New York. In 1977 he was appointed president and headmaster at Saint Joseph’s Prep School in Philadelphia.
In 1981, he was appointed associate director of development at the Gregorian University Foundation in Rome and New York City. During the summers of 1982 and 1983, he was assigned as parochial vicar to Saint Edmund Parish in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware.
Father Jordan joined the staff at the Catholic Student Center and Saint Augustine Parish in Gainesville, Florida in 1982, and two years later was assigned as parochial vicar to the Basilica Cathedral in Saint Augustine, Florida.
In 1985, Father Jordan was named the director of planned giving for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. In 1988, he was appointed co-secretary for development and director for the Cardinal’s Appeal. That same year, he was incardinated in the archdiocese.
Father Jordan was named pastor of Mother Seton Parish in Germantown, Maryland, in 1991, and eight years later, in 1999, he was appointed vice president for development for the Papal Foundation in Philadelphia
In 2003, he was named pastor of Jesus the Divine Word in Huntingtown, Maryland. In 2005, he was named pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Washington D.C.
From 2008 until his retirement in 2009, Father Jordan served as senior priest at Saint Joseph on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
In retirement, he briefly resided at Saint Jane Frances de Chantal Parish in Bethesda, Maryland and then later served as both administrator and pastor at Saint Matthias in Lanham, Maryland.
In 2017, he moved to the Saint John XXIII Retirement Residence and most recently, Grace House in Silver Spring, Maryland.
In addition to his parents, Father Jordan was predeceased. O on brother, John Eugene Jordan.
He is survived by one sister, Margaret Riley; three brothers, Raymond, William and Denny; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy will celebrate a Funeral Mass for Father Jordan on Thursday, Jan. 22, at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland. A viewing will be held there one hour prior to the Mass.
A Vigil will also be held at Our Lady of Grace on Wednesday, Jan. 21, from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m., when a Vigil Mass will be celebrated.
Interment will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Silver Spring.
