A continuing series, answering questions submitted by high school students from around the Archdiocese of Cincinnati: Do you have to be a certain age to be a priest?

Yes.  Accoring to Canon Law, the official law code of the Catholic Church, one must be in his 25th year prior to ordination to the priesthood.

However, this usually is not too difficult, as in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the minimum amount of time required in the seminary covers this age range: 4 years of undergraduate (18-22), plus five years of Major Semimary, brings most guys to around 27 at the time of ordination, if they enter out of (or just out of) high school, which is where I was when I was ordained.

Got a question you’d like to submit, click here.