Fr. Craig Kinneberg, NDP Class of '07, was ordained a priest on May 10, 2025, at the Cathedral Basilica in the Archdiocese of Denver. Fr. Craig is the first Notre Dame Prep graduate to become a priest, and he credits his high school formation as instrumental in his hearing the call to the priesthood.    

"The first consideration I had for a priestly vocation came when I was 17, at the end of my junior year at NDP," he said. "I became sick with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease, and it was within this experience of suffering that a first inclination came about."  

The disease sidelined him from the NDP baseball team that year, while he went through treatment and physical therapy. Craig made a full recovery and rejoined the Saints baseball team for his senior season. That year, he was chosen 2nd Team All-State and 1st Team All-Region before heading to St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX. 

"My formation at NDP was important in helping the seeds of faith to grow and develop," he recalls. At NDP, his interest and love for Theology arose, particularly through an honors Theology class I took during his senior year with then-teacher Mr. Mar. 

"This was my first contact with philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, and theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas," he explained.   

In high school, Craig attended Mass a few times a week before the school day began. " This was also very important in the deepening of my faith," he said. But it was after my freshman year of college that I experienced the call to the priesthood with greater clarity." 

His journey was rich and a bit different than most paths towards the priesthood. In 2010, he entered a lay Society of Apostolic Life (similar to a religious order) based in Peru, with a presence in nine different countries, including the U.S.   

The first four years of initial formation within the community did not include specific studies for the priesthood because the majority of the members were not "walking towards the priesthood," Fr. Craig explained.   

Upon finishing the initial formation, he began his official six-year study in the seminary for the priesthood. After he finished those studies, there was a final eight-month preparation period before making his Perpetual Promises within the community, which he made in October of 2021 while living and serving in São Paolo, Brazil.  

The final stretch of his journey consisted of two years of pastoral work before ordination to the diaconate. Fr. Craig was ordained a deacon in March of 2024 and a priest in May of 2025. 

Now Fr. Craig serves as the Parochial Vicar at Holy Name Catholic Church and School in Sheridan, Colorado, near close friends and family. Although his is the first NDP Saint to become a priest, the hope is he will be one of many.  

His first months as a priest have brought him many blessings. "What always attracted me most to the priesthood was the celebration of the Mass," he said. "I can say that being able to offer this sacrifice daily and be an instrument through which Christ comes to his people has brought me the greatest amount of joy."