In Catholic Church law, being forcibly laicized is sometimes called the death penalty for priests. A dismissal from the priesthood is permanent — something that can't even be said of excommunication. Even priests who request laicization are told to move away and, unless necessary, to keep quiet about what happened to avoid scandalizing other Catholics. No working in parishes, seminaries, Catholic schools. Your previous identity is wiped out.
But, in the eyes of the church, the mark of priestly ordination can never be removed. Something metaphysical changed then that can't be undone. A Minnesota diocesan official who was laicizing a man still warmly reassured him, tapping his chest: "In here, you're a priest forever," he said, according to a former church lawyer who testified in a 2014 affidavit. The man had abused women, including in the confessional, one of whom killed herself.
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