Once again, she has nothing to “return” from. She’s a Catholic, who is out of the state of grace because she has not been going to confession or Mass. It’s up to her to decide when/ if she’s going to go to confession and start going to Mass again. She may or may not be ready to start with this again when her husband enters the Church, and in any event, she doesn’t need to be actively practicing her faith in order to get a convalidation.
The priest for whatever reason seems to have decided the wife wasn’t a Catholic because she wasn’t currently practicing her faith or had inadequate catechesis. This was an incorrect conclusion on his part, since being a Catholic is not dependent on those things.
