The application process for the seminary program includes: 

1. summaries of personal interviews with the applicant
2. evaluation from his pastor and teachers
3. academic records, standardized test scores
4. assessments by experienced formators of the applicant’s motivation, and, if applicable
5. previous seminary evaluations.

 The seminary must verify the completion of all documentation before a candidate is admitted. 

The admission process by the diocese or religious community must include;

1. a thorough physical examination to ensure that applicants possess the good health necessary for seminary training and priestly ministry.

2. This exam should include HIV and drug testing.

The seminary is also obligated to determine the freedom of the applicant from impediments to orders and from conditions that must be addressed prior to the reception of orders, namely:  

1. that sufficient time has passed for a neophyte
2. that the applicant does not hold a position forbidden to clerics
3. that the applicant does not “labor under some form of insanity or psychic defect”
4. that he has not committed apostasy, heresy, or schism
5. that he has not committed homicide, cooperated in an abortion
6. mutilated himself or another, attempted or simulated

If any of these  conditions exist, then prior to admission, appropriate dispensations or remedies must be obtained. It is also recommended that the seminary investigate whether the candidate is: 

1. allergic to wheat,
2. whether he is able to consume the Precious Blood,
3. whether he is abusing alcohol or drugs,
4. whether he has a criminal background,
5. whether he has ever been sexually abused as a minor, and
6. whether any remedies would be appropriate.

An applicant for the priesthood must testify that he is not married or, if he is married, he has the approval of the Holy See. If an Eastern Catholic candidate is married, a certificate of marriage is required along with the written consent of his wife and the approval of the Apostolic See.

Applicants who have received a declaration of matrimonial nullity should be carefully screened. Although these men may have canonical freedom to pursue the priesthood, it is important to ascertain if and how previous obstacles to a marriage commitment or possible scandal might affect their viability as candidates for the priesthood. Care must be taken to certify the canonical declaration of nullity by reviewing the Acta (official documentation and evidence for the canonical decision) to ensure that the reasons and circumstances that serve as warrants for the declaration of nullity are fully disclosed to the sponsoring bishop or religious ordinary, rector, and the seminary admissions committee.

If a previously married person has responsibilities for his spouse, this factor is to be considered.

If the candidate has responsibility for a minor child, acceptance should be deferred. All such cases should be carefully weighed.

Especially careful screening should also be given to applicants who are recent converts to the Catholic faith or who have lapsed in the practice of their faith and have recently returned. It is advisable that at least two years pass between their entry into the Church and their acceptance into a seminary program. A suitable period of time should pass before entrance into the seminary in cases of Catholics for whom a sudden conversion experience seems to precipitate a priestly vocation. Similarly, those who return to the practice of the faith after an extended period away from the Church should not enter the seminary directly.

IRREGULARITIES AND OTHER IMPEDIMENTS

Can.  1040 Those affected by any impediment, whether perpetual, which is called an irregularity, or simple, are prevented from receiving orders. The only impediments incurred, however, are those contained in the following canons.

Can.  1041 The following are irregular for receiving orders:

1. a person who labors under some form of amentia or other psychic illness due to which, after experts have been consulted, he is judged unqualified to fulfill the ministry proper
2. a person who has committed the delict of apostasy, heresy, or schism
3. a person who has attempted marriage, even only civilly, while either impeded personally from entering marriage by a matrimonial bond, sacred orders, or a public perpetual vow of chastity, or with a woman bound by a valid marriage or restricted by the same type of vow;
4. a person who has committed voluntary homicide or procured a completed abortion and all those who positively cooperated in either;
5. a person who has mutilated himself or another gravely and maliciously or who has attempted suicide;
6. a person who has placed an act of orders reserved to those in the order of episcopate or presbyterate while either lacking that order or prohibited from its exercise by some declared or imposed canonical penalty.

 Can.  1042 The following are simply impeded from receiving orders:

1. a man who has a wife, unless he is legitimately destined to the permanent diaconate;
2. a person who exercises an office or administration forbidden to clerics according to the norm of canon 285 and 286 for which he must render an account, until he becomes free by having relinquished the office or administration and rendered the account;
3. a neophyte unless he has been proven sufficiently in the judgment of the ordinary.

Can.  1043 If the Christian faithful are aware of impediments to sacred orders, they are obliged to reveal them to the ordinary or pastor before the ordination.

Can.  1044 §1. The following are irregular for the exercise of orders received:

1. a person who has received orders illegitimately while affected by an irregularity to receive them;
2. a person who has committed a delict mentioned in can. 1041, n. 2, if the delict is public;
3. a person who has committed a delict mentioned in can. 1041, nn. 3, 4, 5, 6.

§2. The following are impeded from the exercise of orders:

1. a person who has received orders illegitimately while prevented by an impediment from receiving them;
2. a person who is aVected by amentia or some other psychic illness mentioned in can. 1041, n. 1 until the ordinary, after consulting an expert, permits the exercise of the order.

Can.  1045 Ignorance of the irregularities and impediments does not exempt from them.

Can.  1046 Irregularities and impediments are multiplied if they arise from different causes. They are not multiplied, however, if they arise from the repetition of the same cause unless it is a question of the irregularity for voluntary homicide or for having procured a completed abortion.

Can.  1047 §1. Dispensation from all irregularities is reserved to the Apostolic See alone if the fact on which they are based has been brought to the judicial forum.

§2. Dispensation from the following irregularities and impediments to receive orders is also reserved to the Apostolic See:

1. irregularities from the public delicts mentioned in can. 1041, nn. 2 and

2. the irregularity from the delict mentioned in can. 1041, n. 4, whether public or occult;

3. the impediment mentioned in can. 1042, n. 1.

§3. Dispensation in public cases from the irregularities from exercising an order received mentioned in can. 1041, n. 3, and even in occult cases from the irregularities mentioned in can. 1041, n. 4 is also reserved to the Apostolic See.

§4. An ordinary is able to dispense from irregularities and impediments not reserved to the Holy See.

Can.  1048 In more urgent occult cases, if the ordinary or, when it concerns the irregularities mentioned in can. 1041, nn. 3 and 4, the Penitentiary cannot be approached and if there is imminent danger of grave harm or infamy, a person impeded by an irregularity from exercising an order can exercise it, but without prejudice to the obligation which remains of making recourse as soon as possible to the ordinary or the Penitentiary, omitting the name and through a confessor.

Can.  1049 §1. Petitions to obtain a dispensation from irregularities or impediments must indicate all the irregularities and impediments. Nevertheless, a general dispensation is valid even for those omitted in good faith, except for the irregularities mentioned in can. 1041, n. 4, and for others brought to the judicial forum, but not for those omitted in bad faith.

§2. If it is a question of the irregularity from voluntary homicide or a procured abortion, the number of the delicts also must be mentioned for the validity of the dispensation.

§3. A general dispensation from irregularities and impediments to receive orders is valid for all the orders.