I agree entirely. He realized he could no longer play by the rules of the priesthood, and he bowed out. There is no shame there, it is not an easy path many of us could follow. I know I cound’t. I won’t fault the man for having the desires of a man.
No he did not bow out. He was caught very publicly breaking his vows, only then did he decide he could not stay Catholic. He proved himself a liar, not a good start for any one wanting to enter a Protestant Church.
Keep in mind too that fornication is a sin to Protestants as well as Catholics. If this man had met the women, fallen in love, taken the necessary steps to become laicized, then married her, I would say good for him. If he had carefully thought about the differences in Protestant and Catholic doctrine and found he no longer could believe in those things exclusive to Catholicism. Well better a good Protestant than a bad Catholic.
But that is not what happened. This was no conversion of a man who examined his conscience and realized he truly believed what the Episcopal Church teaches no this was a penile conversion. And I think it insults good faithful Protestants.
You both missed the point. He chose the celibate life. He took a vow of celibacy, of his own volition. If he couldn't handle celibacy then he should not have take the vow in the first place. No one held a gun to his head.