Pope Francis removes Bishop Holley as head of Memphis diocese

  • Thread starter Thread starter mrsdizzyd
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I donā€™t know much, but I did hear that Bishop Holley organized a massive restructuring of the diocese, which apparently upset a lot of people. But perhaps thereā€™s something else going on that we donā€™t know about.

Either way, Cardinal Wuerl is still in charge of DC. I find that ridiculous.
 
mrsdizzyd said:
I wonder if we will ever know why? šŸ¤”
Click to expand...
Weā€™ll know sooner rather than later.

Could be good news- maybe heā€™s heading to take the Washington cardinalship replacing Donald Wuerl.

Or it could be bad, maybe heā€™s ill and unable to continue- Bishop Holley is an elderly man and that kind of thing happens too.
 
Itā€™s not that kind of story. He had an apostolic visitation that apparently did not go well. He was asked to resign, but he refused so Pope Francis removed him. I believe he has been retired from the episcopacy.
 
Church Militant is reporting that there were financial irregularities and violations of canon law and that the bishop also closed 11 schools leading to dissatisfaction. And that the vicar general for the diocese already resigned before this happened.

I can understand why a bishop might suddenly close churches or schools, but why transfer half his pastors all at once? That doesnā€™t make sense.

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/memphis-tn-bishop-removed-from-diocese
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
I can understand why a bishop might suddenly close churches or schools, but why transfer half his pastors all at once? That doesnā€™t make sense.
Click to expand...
That caught my eye because thatā€™s pretty much what has just happened in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. I donā€™t know what the process was in Memphis, but I do know here it was a several year effort (and probably more unbeknownst to laypeople.) It wasnā€™t sprung on us.
 
I saw that, but Iā€™m always hesitant to take Church Militant seriously unless there are other sources reporting the same thing.

Other people are reporting about the closures and the massive switch up of parish priests, but no one else is reporting financial irregularities.

Al Cresta said heā€™d talk about this today. I take him with a grain of salt as well, but heā€™s much more trustworthy than CM in my opinion.
 
The Memphis Commercial Appeal said he moved almost 75 percent of pastors in the first few months of his term, including some who were just a few months from retirement, and that he never issued any statement explaining why.
Again, this makes no sense.
Parishioners and even a retired priest complained.
I have to seriously wonder about the mental health of a bishop who does this with no explanation.

 
Tis_Bearself said:
I have to seriously wonder about the mental health of a bishop who does this with no explanation.
Click to expand...
Hate to throw the ā€œCā€ word out there, but clericalism could also be at play here. Just plain old-fashioned desire to wield power mixed in with a little tyranny.
 
I am not saying that I agree with his very abrupt approach to priest reassignment, but there may be some sense to it if it had been done very gradually. I seem to remember a small scale effort while he was auxiliary in Washington DC to transfer priests who have been in the same parish for a long while. Generally, you see that the spiritual growth in those parishes stagnates. You may love your pastor and want to keep him, but the life of the Church gradually evolves to ā€˜more of the sameā€™ more often than not. In my home diocese, our Bishop wants to avoid this by telling his priests 'If you canā€™t bring anything new to the Parish any more, then it may be time to move." Forcing this change on the vast majority of his priests almost immediately was probably not a good idea, but if that seventy five percent of priests he had moved had been in a single parish or office for about ten years, then yes, I can see where he was going with it.
 
Transferring a smaller percentage over a longer term and with some explanation might make sense. However, one pastor had only been with his parish three years and 900 parishioners wrote in asking that he not be transferred. The pastors who were a few months from retirement should have been allowed to finish out their careers where they were. And it sounds like no one got an explanation.
 
Yes, I know Pope Francis accepted Wuerlā€™s resignation, but he is still the apostolic administrator, leaving him effectively in charge.
 
Ruh-roh!

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top