Do you ever feel weird calling a very young priest, "Father"?

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A couple weeks ago we had a very young, newly-ordained priest help out during Mass. Nobody mentioned how old he was but he looked to be about 15. After Mass he was standing by the doors with our priest, shaking hands with people as they left. I noticed that people were calling our priest, “Father,” but almost nobody addressed the young priest as, “Father.” I didn’t think much of it at the time but when I was talking to my wife about it later we both admitted that it felt a little strange referring to someone who looks younger than our son by that title. Has anyone else felt the same way?
 
Gordon_Sims said:
A couple weeks ago we had a very young, newly-ordained priest help out during Mass. Nobody mentioned how old he was but he looked to be about 15. After Mass he was standing by the doors with our priest, shaking hands with people as they left. I noticed that people were calling our priest, “Father,” but almost nobody addressed the young priest as, “Father.” I didn’t think much of it at the time but when I was talking to my wife about it later we both admitted that it felt a little strange referring to someone who looks younger than our son by that title. Has anyone else felt the same way?
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Nope. I never ever feel weird about it. I hope I am blessed to live a life where all Fathers are younger than me. And when I see a real young one, I say Father enthusiastically because I am ecstatic that the spiritual Father in front of me answered His vocation and stuck through all the years of education.

Not only that but I think it emphasizes my submission to the office and underscores the need in the world today to formally recognize good priests for what they are. Not only that but I see it as a modeling for my own children so that they may consider the vocation as well.
 
It was strange to start calling our friend who was ordained “Father,” when before to us he’d always just been “name,” but it became natural to us to do so pretty quickly. He is the same age as us. We are about as young as you could be to be ordained a priest in our diocese, so we haven’t experienced anyone younger than us yet, but we certainly hope that is something we run into more often!
 
Nope. I was 40 and calling a young – as in 18 and barely able to produce a 5-o’clock shadow over three days – officer, “Sir.”

So, calling a young priest “Father”? Meh – easy peasy. 👍

Imagine how odd it must be, though, for the young priest’s dad. “My son, the father.” 😃
 
Gordon_Sims said:
A couple weeks ago we had a very young, newly-ordained priest help out during Mass. Nobody mentioned how old he was but he looked to be about 15. After Mass he was standing by the doors with our priest, shaking hands with people as they left. I noticed that people were calling our priest, “Father,” but almost nobody addressed the young priest as, “Father.” I didn’t think much of it at the time but when I was talking to my wife about it later we both admitted that it felt a little strange referring to someone who looks younger than our son by that title. Has anyone else felt the same way?
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Also, he probably was not 15. If you are in the USA he was more likely in his mid to late 20s. And yes, that may seem young to some but it is also the age of a lot of business Gurus when they make their first million. At 21 Jobs confounded Apple. Gates, 20 for Microsoft. Every NFL player except 1 is younger than me.

But lets delve into the theological. Mary was a teen when she became the Mother of God. Most of the Apostles, The APOSTLES were very young. Timothy (a Bishop) was like a son to Paul. David, was a young King. Etc. The Bible and indeed the Church is full of youth. From Juan Diego to St Maria Garetti, they showed fidelity and wisdom beyond their years. And now for the youngest Holy Fathers… Actual Popes
Pope Benedict IX (who became pope at an unknown age between 11 and 20)
Pope John XII (who was 18 at the beginning of his papacy)
Pope John XI (who was 20 at the beginning of his papacy)
Pope Gregory V (who was 24 at the beginning of his papacy)
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Some, perhaps teens themselves.

I only harp on this because I thought your comment about Father looking to be about 15 did not seem respectful in your post. It was as if you seemed to use it as a knock on him.

EDIT

Ohh I have more!
slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/08/how_old_were_the_founding_father_the_leaders_of_the_american_revolution.html
Founding FATHERS who signed the declaration of independence. These men made our country. The average age was old, but there were quite a few younguns even teens.
Peter Salem 16 Alexander Hamilton 21. Lynch 26 ETC.

(By the way, this was fun to research.)😉
 
“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned…”

Nope, not weird at all.
 
Not at all I am guessing that one of our assistant priest is probably in his late twenties He was recently ordained this year.
 
Gordon_Sims said:
A couple weeks ago we had a very young, newly-ordained priest help out during Mass. Nobody mentioned how old he was but he looked to be about 15. After Mass he was standing by the doors with our priest, shaking hands with people as they left. I noticed that people were calling our priest, “Father,” but almost nobody addressed the young priest as, “Father.” I didn’t think much of it at the time but when I was talking to my wife about it later we both admitted that it felt a little strange referring to someone who looks younger than our son by that title. Has anyone else felt the same way?
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Gordon,

Think this:

Mary was only 14, 15 or 16 when she had Jesus. Yet we call her “Mother” in various ways of honor.

Seems consistent then to call a Priest, of any age, who among other tasks, duties and responsibilities, turns the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord, “Father”.

Call him “Father” and then thank him for being a Priest.

🙂
 
My doctor is younger than I am…but I still call him Dr.

I hope I see more young priests! We need them!
 
Not at all. And I’m a geezer – almost every priest that I meet is going to be younger than me.

(Our pastor is a retired army colonel. I was 11 years USAF enlisted, and it’s kinda hard for me to not call him “sir” and salute when I come in for confession 😛 )
 
I thought I might, We have been blessed with young men coming out of our parish to become priests. Even though I have known some since birth (May have changed one’s diapers) I am very happy to call them Father
 
We had a priest who looked to be about 15 as well – he was about 39! Some people just have baby faces. I had no problem calling him Father, though we were the same age. And he was a genius in the confessional, very insightful and spot on with penances.

Thankfully, in my current parish, the congregation seems to be appreciative of the gift of our priests, regardless of their age.

Gertie
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Also, he probably was not 15. If you are in the USA he was more likely in his mid to late 20s.
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I knew he was at least in his mid 20s, but he’s one of those people who look much younger than than his age. No disrespect was intended, and my wife and I were two of the few people (at least in the big group who left when we did) who actually called him Father. He certainly looked much younger than our son, which is what led to us talking about it later. I’d never hesitate to call a priest Father; I have a “reformed Catholic” friend who insists on calling priests by their first name or Mr. So-and-so. It annoys me intensely when he does that. However, this was the first time I’ve ever met a priest who looked young enough that I could be his dad. It may have been more of a “wow, I’m old” reaction than, “wow, he’s young.”
 
John_Lazarus said:
Nope. I was 40 and calling a young – as in 18 and barely able to produce a 5-o’clock shadow over three days – officer, “Sir.”

So, calling a young priest “Father”? Meh – easy peasy. 👍

Imagine how odd it must be, though, for the young priest’s dad. “My son, the father.” 😃
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I would say that immediate family members would not call the young priest (or old one, either) Father, except to tease him.

My oldest brother is a priest - now 85 years old. I was 12 when he was ordained. I have never addressed him as Father. I do refer to him as Father, when I talk about him to people not close family members.

The day after he was ordained our parish priest came to visit and my mother called up the stairs “Seamus!” to let him know to come down. The parish priest looked at her, shocked, and asked “you don’t call him father?” to which my mother responded," I’m still his mother!"

God bless.
 
I guess it might seem weird to me if he were my brother or cousin, but otherwise, no. I’m old enough to be my spiritual director’s mother (had I been somewhat precocious :whistle:) but he is and has always been “Father” to me.
 
At a nearby church, there is a very young priest - well, he might be 30 now, but he is very young looking, and he came to that parish a few years ago, so… he was one of the only priests who didn’t have any detours along the road to ordination, so he is definitely the “baby” of the diocese. I have never heard him called anything other than “Father Firstname.” I make an effort to use last names with priests, in part because I am modeling for my children, and in part because I think there is a stronger sense of respect when the last name is used, so I refer to him as Father Lastname, but I’ve actaully been asked who I am talking about because some people don’t even know what his last name is. This priest is the only one at this parish to be called by his first name. The pastor of that parish, who is in his 50’s is Father Lastname, and the older priests in residence are Monsignors Lastname. So while the parish does give him the respect of using the term “Father” it appears to me that they look at him as a kid, and want to name him as such. I know that people working with youth often go for a more “youthful” name, and he is great with the kids, I’m sure in part, because he isn’t that far removed from them, but I can’t help but be bothered by the fact that the level of respect is lower for him than for the other priests. I hope that as he gets older he doesn’t get stuck in a first name rut, because that’s how it started.
 
I can only think of a handful of active priests around here (as in, maybe two) who go by their last name. Almost all of them insist on being called Father Firstname. I didn’t think much of it before now, but it’s been well over ten years since we’ve had a priest who went by his last name. When I was growing up, and well into my 20’s, except for a couple that taught at the local high schools, all the priests around here went by Father Lastname. Given a choice, I think that in most situations I would actually prefer using their last name, but except for our parish priests I don’t even know most of their last names.
 
No, I never had problem to call a young priest “Father”. We need young holy priests.
 
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