You could also play him as sort of uber religious nut job. In life he was gung ho fighting against the Scourge and hell bent on wiping the undead from Lordaeron. After falling and being risen by the Forsaken, he still clings to his faith and feels that to fall to shadow would go against all he had lived for. He’s trying to continue his lifes work while in the clutches of undeath. He views the excruciating pain of channeling the Holy Light to be his penance for failing to remain among the living. You know, like those nutty Catholics who self flagellate.
Almost a year late, I know. But I wanted to say that this line of thinking is the best answer. Others below in the thread say it better, and manage to do it without the the anti-Catholic bigotry. Keep things civil, please.
"The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts" - Lawrence of Arabia
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Actually, heres another perspective. Apparently Forsaken Priests who use the light experience a “sharpening of their senses, and increase in positive emotions.” While this does mean you smell your own rotting flesh and taste the bugs in your mouth, it could be that this priest is trying to bring themselves back to life using the light. Heck, beyond that, supposedly if a Forsaken can keep their body intact they can live forever. The light heals, although its painful. A forsaken could theoretically try to live forever, even in unlife, using this.
From a lore standpoint, there are two explanations that I know of, one is that you can be a priest without using the light, shadow priests, Elunes Priests(they use light but they technical don’t have to), and some shamans are more similar to priests but use nature as the basis of their beliefs. The other is that because the light is trying to help not kill it won’t hurt the undead as much as an undead paladin using light would, this doesn’t make much sense because holy pally, but its good enough.
Here’s my pulled-from-thin-air idea (note, not an RP-er but an aspiring writer):
The undead character was an adored, yet wicked, person in life and their vile deeds eventually caught up to them by the stroke of a headsman’s axe. After spending what felt like an eternity in the torment of the afterlife, being plucked from the spirit realm allows them to see their unlife as “a second chance”. They believe that fate/destiny/etc put their being on this particular path for a chance at purifying their soul by becoming the inverse of what they were while they were alive - a being that is universally condemned, striving to do good.
The character bears the pain brought by using the Light silently, mustering as much self-control as they can to endure the searing agony the power brings. Their conviction is strong, but not fanatical - they realize the dire situation they are in, both in this world and the next, and are striving to make the best use of the gift fate has brought.
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If it’s not polar opposites of one another on the Cosmic Powers chart, then I don’t see how it’s illogical. The only illogical cases would be merging Void and Light, Death and Life, or Arcane and Fel. So like undead druids don’t make sense. Lightforged shadow priests, void elf holy priests. Yes, they can be such in game, but that’s with the flavor of lightforged being Holy priests because of their holy affinity as well as void elves being shadow priests. Blizzard just can’t give a race a class that only allows play of one spec of said class. Limits the character customization that they are so keen on. But, Light and Death are not polar opposites and so, can make perfect sense.
Alonsus Faol. All the justification you need. Undead Holy Priests are canon.
All you need to do is decide, story wise, why your Forsaken’s faith matters so much to them that they tolerate the agony of employing the Light.
The lore we have is a starting point, not a straightjacket. If a Dreadlord can be a Paladin, your Forsaken can be a Holy Priest. Give him a “Saul on the road to Damascus” moment to make him realize “I can do this! And I will!” and just roll with it.
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Oh dang-thats really good, actually! Its certainly alot more fun then just “A fanatic who doesnt care they’re in pain” and adds some intresting depth.
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It’s more like a chess board or (for us “coloring book w/ big letters” types), a dogpen. There are certain boundaries we have to work in, but as with all creative works, it’s more of a “justify/explain this in a believable way” than a formula.
I mean theres no reason Forsaken cant be priests. Theres litterally already an explanation-they cant infuse themselves with the light, but they can still use it, it just hurts. Whether its a fanatic who believes the light is everything, someone whos trying to punish themselves for sins, someone who believes the light will redeem them and/just doesnt know what else to do, Forsaken most certainly can use light in the lore.