Receiving minor orders but not going on to priesthood

[Paul_Edwards]

would he just be looked on as a layman?

He would be seen as a layman, a bit like a laicized priest is, because he left the seminary and was dispensed. This will always be the case, unless permanent positions are in the future established for the minor orders the way they were for the diaconate by Pope Paul VI. If however you are referring to the FSSP they do not even have a permanent diaconate so I hardly imagine them having permanent minor orders.

Nevertheless, it could be argued that they still have a character on their soul (as I’m sure many FSSP priests think) but they would still not be aloud to exercise that in any case. Although the Church has never defined upon whether or not the minor orders leave a character or not, in the new code of canon law the minor orders are no longer recognized as a formality.