J. Manny Santiago

Juan Manuel Santiago Rodríguez (J. Manny Santiago) is a Puerto Rican author, pastor, and theologian. He is the author of several articles on religion, Queer Latino theology, and a book entitled Para ser bautistas / Being Baptists; Lecciones para nuevos miembros / Lessons for New Members, published by Judson Press Press in August 2009. He is currently working on a book on the life and ministry of Christ, with a workin title of Encuentros con Jesús
Early life
J. Manny Santiago was born on September 25, 1978 in Castañer, Puerto Rico, a small coffee settlement in the center of the Island. His parents, Marianita Rodríguez Rivera and Luis Manuel Santiago Delgado, were farmers who owned a coffee farm in the town of Andjuntas, Puerto Rico. Currently, his father works as a janitor with the Puerto Rican government and his mother is a homemaker. He has a younger sister, Verónica Santiago Rodríguez, who works for the Department of the Family of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Adjuntas office.
His paternal family belonged to the American Baptist Churches, while his manternal family was mostly Kardecian Spiritualists. Both his grandfathers were leaders of their respective religious moments. His paternal grandfather, Joaquín Santiago, was a Deacon and founding member of the First Baptist Church in Castañer, while his maternal grandfather, Juan Rodríguez, was a medium and leader of a mid-size congregation in Castañer. Growing up, Manny and his sister attended the parish of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Castañer. Later, after having attended a Vacation Bible School, he and his sister started attending the Primera Iglesia Bautista de Yahuecas, a small American Baptist Congregation close to where they lived.
From an early age, Manny wanted to be a geophysicist. However, he was drawn to the liturgy of the parish of his childhood and knew from an early age that he wanted to be priest. Once he switched to the Baptist denomination, he understood that he could be a religious leader without leaving behind his dream of having a family of his own.
Manny grew up in a coffee farm in the neighborhood of Guayabo Dulce, Adjuntas, and went to elementary school to the then Rábanos Elemental School (now Julio Lebrón Soto Elementary School) in Castafer, Lares, Puerto Rico. After graduating from sixth grade with high honors, Manny went to junior high at the Gabriela Mistral School in the same neighborhood. When he graduated from ninth grade, Manny moved briefly to the José Emilio Lugo High School in the downtown area of Adjuntas. His high grades and desire to move away from the farm life of his youth, Manny applied to one of the specialized schools in Puerto Rico, the Center for Educational Opportunities in Mayagüez (C.R.O.E.M.), a schools specializing in sciences and mathematics. He graduated from CROEM in 1995 after just one year of high school and received the Prize for Moral and Christian Values granted by the Pontifical University of Puerto Rico.

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