Is a priest always a priest?

[Syboney]

I’ve always had a “burning” question. Once a priest is ordained and then he leaves either to marry or feels that the priesthood is not his calling after all, and even though his vocation is relinquished, can he one day return to the priesthood?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

A priest is and always will remain a priest. Whether a priest can return to exercising priestly ministry after abandoning his vocation is a matter that only the Church can determine, and only the Church can again give him the necessary faculties to lawfully administer the sacraments. If a priest who left the priesthood wants to return, he should talk to his bishop.