PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — While there is no mandatory retirement age for Catholic priests in general, pastors (priests who lead a parish) are typically asked to submit their supervising bishop their resignation at age 75. The bishop then decides whether to accept the resignation or defer it. Priests can retire from administrative duties at any age, but they remain priests for life.

So, in the case of the Reverend Father James Kelly, a venerable figure in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the service he has rendered to his parish is really special as he has marked an extraordinary dual milestone, celebrating both his 100th birthday and the 75th anniversary of his ordination.

Fr. Kelly is now hailed as the longest-serving priest in the archdiocese and he continues to persist in his duties even as his remarkable life of spirituality recently faced a challenge from which he emerged with renewed gratitude.
Throughout his extensive ministry, Kelly has baptized thousands, officiated countless marriages and provided counseling and solace to the sick in hospitals. His travels have taken him across the globe, fostering friendships with notable figures, including an opera superstar and, notably, a saint.
But Kelly's journey nearly concluded in 2024 following a health crisis that necessitated life-saving surgery. He attributes his recovery to divine intervention, expressing a profound sense of gratitude for the additional time he has been granted by God.
"The Lord was wonderful to me to give me the health and the strength and the energy to travel, to meet beautiful things—God was always giving me surprises," Kelly shares.
Born on January 7, 1925 into a devoutly Catholic family in Philadelphia's Roxborough neighbourhood, Kelly's calling to the priesthood was evident at a young age as his aspiration was singularly focused on serving the church, a path he has faithfully followed for three-quarters of a century.
Unlike most children whose dreams aimed success in a career or in sports, he focused on serving God: “When I was 4 or 5 years old, I’d play Mass,” he recalled, laughing, as he mentioned that his parents were his first congregants.

“I always had a little altar in my room and I’d have a glass and some flowers in there and I’d make a vestment, put a scarf on, and have some candy and give Communion to everybody," he looked back in his childhood days.

To date, Fr. Kelly lives simply, often waking up at dawn to celebrate Mass at the retirement living community that he now calls his home. During leisure time, though, he listens to opera and bakes classic American pie. At other times, he sits in his room, flipping through a photo album that details his priestly journey. He smiles at every page he turns, pointing to black-and-white photos of him as a toddler and milestones as a Catholic during his baptism, confirmation and ordination as a priest.

“I turned down Hollywood!” he claims when his handsome featureukd gave landed him as an actor. He now giggles as he points to the portrait of a dapper, young priest with his hair slicked and his lips flashing a captivating smile.

And there is one photo published by a Philadelphia newspaper when he was on the news after climbing in his Roman collar the top of a bridge to dissuaded a man from committing suicide byjumping to his death below.

“Nobody would climb there, so I climbed up—it was 400 feet high. It was a bitter cold day,” he narrates. “I was able to talk to him and break him down emotionally, so he wouldn’t jump. I told him, ‘What’s your grandchild going to say one day: Papa, why didn’t you take me fishing?'"

He points to other photos as well which showed the many ceremonies he proudly officiated during his 19 years as pastor of Saint Pius X Parish in Broomall, 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Pennsylvania's capitol city.
There are also images of him during a vacation in Mexico when he made a parachute jump or that one time he visited the majestic Iguazu Falls on the border between Argentina and Brazil, which he recalls as one of the most beautiful sights of his life.

“Everywhere you turned, there was a rainbow, there was a mist . . . the water gushing forth and spray and the colors," he describes. “It was, as the kids would say, awesome.”

And now in his 100th year, James Kelly tells people about the value of having an imagination and having many friends while being grateful for the simple pleasures life offers.

Imagination, he says, is one of his favorite words, recalling that he wrote his college thesis on it. “Jesus used his imagination to teach,” he says, in what became an example when he prepared his own sermons.

He treasures other memories, such as traveling to more than 100 countries and meeting the Saint of Kolkata known as Mother Theresa. Kelly says they became close friends over the years after meeting in Philadelphia and running into each other at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The centenarian also shared the time when he took a group of blind children to a live performance of his friend, acclaimed soprano Joan Sutherland: “I’ve been fortunate to meet some of the most magnificent, good people in this world, and they’ve been most generous and gracious to me."

Asked about his secret to longevity, he replies candidly: “I drink lots of milk . . . and I say lots of prayers.”