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I have known some ex-priests who left precisely because the faith seemed to fall apart after Vatican II, and they were living in heterodox dioceses or were members of religious orders that went crazy after Vatican II.

Incidentally, we’re talking about men who were validly dispensed, not somebody who ran off with the church organist.

Many of them are extremely orthodox and that was why they left. I think they only want to come back now because we have a firmly orthodox pope, and they finally feel there is hope. Maybe they should have stuck it out, but anybody who lived through the 70s will know how horrible things became for orthodox Catholics during that time. And I’m sure it was much worse for orthodox priests.

I have known some ex-priests who left precisely because the faith seemed to fall apart after Vatican II,

I read somewhere that many of the seminarians who entered during VCII were assured that the council would approve married priests and entered under those conditions. When that did not materialize, they left and married.

The Eastern Catholic Churches enjoy a married priesthood but, as the Patriarch of the Maronite Church noted at a Vatican meeting, married priests present other problems.

VATICAN CITY: Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir warned the Synod of Bishops in Rome on Friday that allowing Roman Catholic priests to marry might resolve the priest shortage but would create new and "equally serious" problems. Married priests have to divert their attention away from their parishes to their wives and children, Sfeir explained, adding that a priest with a family is more difficult to move to a different parish.
Sfeir called celibacy "the precious jewel in the treasure of the Catholic Church" and asked for prayers so the Church can find an "adequate solution" to the priest shortage.
Eastern rite churches follow many Orthodox Christian rituals but are loyal to the Pope. Unlike Roman Catholics, their priests do not have to be celibate, and Sfeir said half of the priests in his diocese are married. In fact, he recounted, "Many Western priests write to us to ask to be incardinated (attached) in a diocese of the Eastern Church with the aim of marrying."
The issue of the priest shortage has dominated the October 2-23 meeting of the world's bishops. A handful of bishops have specifically raised the celibacy issue, but many have suggested instead that the church redistribute the priests it has, moving churchmen from countries where there is a surplus to countries in need.

The Maronite Church does not send married priest outside of Lebanon. Our pastor is celibate, and a monk! He takes his vows very seriously. Last Sunday, he took time towards the end of the mass, to repeat those vows, on his knees, before the Book of the Gospels placed on the altar, and before the entire congregation.