Should a priest desire to retire from active parish ministry due to his age or health, he still remains a priest by virtue of his ordination. His priestly vocation is not diminished or negated simply because he chooses to step down and turn over his flock to be shepherded by a new pastor. In addition, retired clergy are not exempt from normal Christian responsibilities and activities either, after all, they were initially chosen from amongst the Christian laity to begin with. Therefore, retired clerics are still expected to attend services, participate in the Church’s sacramental life, and continue to maintain the stature of their high calling through prayer, worship, and sacrifice. In other words, clergy might be able to retire from the responsibilities of serving and managing a parish, but never from their calling to serving God.
It should also be noted that retired clergy are never without a community of believers, as they must always be assigned to an altar somewhere. In some instances they might be attached to the very parish they retired from or to another parish within that deanery or geographical area. Others will opt to move back to their place of birth and be attached to the parish they grew up in. Yet whatever the situation, they will normally concelebrate services with the rector of that parish, stand in the altar, or sing in the choir; however the spirit moves them. Many retired clergy also avail themselves to fill in for vacationing priests and/or use their years of experience and training to write, teach, and lecture.
