Pope Francis removes Memphis Bishop

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Here’s a 2017 article discussing what Holley was doing. It doesn’t sound like he was addressing liturgical abuse. It sounds like a guy who doesn’t know how to do his job.

www.google.com

Priest, parish leader express concerns to Vatican official about Memphis bishop's changes

A Memphis priest and a parish lay leader have sent letters to the Vatican's U.S. representative expressing concerns about big changes Bishop Holley has made in parish assignments. Most parishes are getting new priests this weekend.
www.google.com
 
I will see if I can find one in the news. My sources of information (on both sides of the issue) are actually people living in Memphis. I don’t feel right using their personal stories without their permission.

I will mention what happened at one parish I would attend while visiting one family. During the consecration, the priest would have the Eucharistic ministers come up and “assist in the consecration” (Priest’s words not mine) by reciting the prayers with him, extending their hands in prayer, etc. This wasn’t a one time occurance. I witnessed it on multiple visits over a few years time. (That family I visit regularly actually loved their priest and is on the side that is happy Holley was removed). Another family I regularly see as well switched parishes because of that practice and mentions other things I never personally witnessed. They believe that Holley was cleaning up those types of abuses by shifting priests around.

My thoughts are simply that Memphis is hurting. They need answers and prayers. Knowing people on “both sides of the divide” makes me wonder if they will ever find ways to reconcile after this. One side is gloating, the other is mourning. They see it as a liberal win over conservatives, and that is not helpful. Full disclosure is needed to help bridge the gap so they can work towards reunion

Prayers for Memphis. They need them
 
He lost the confidence of roughly 75% of his priests and many of his faithful. Even if reforms were needed, you need support in order to be able to carry out your reforms.

I don’t see how any bishop can lead with 3/4 of your priests refusing to follow. That should be some indication of the degree to which Bishop Holley had mismanaged things.
 
13pollitos said:
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CilladeRoma:
It is not at all easy to remove a Bishop from his See.
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This is actually why the people of the Diocese of Memphis deserve to know the truth. With the current scandals in the world wide Church, the faith of the people is hurting. It is causing a very deep divide and only the clarity of full truth will bring about healing.
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Bolding added.
We live in the National Enquirer Civilization, where 24 hour news networks and tell-all talk shows leave people with insatiable cravings for more information. Now that we have 200 times as much information (true and false) about clerical sex allegations and
Confidential diocesan processes, do you really think Catholics are more Healed than a few decades ago?

As a matter of justice, Dioceses should provide information, though Catholics should be aware of the larger context here. Sex abuse is bad, but abortion is still by far the biggest problem for the Church in the USA. A lot of laity, priests, bishops, and people in Rome forget that
 
As abhorrent as abortion is, in is not a "Church"problem, it is a social problem.
The Church has a huge problem on it’s hands with the abuse scandal, one that directly effects her mission.
If people don’t trust their leaders, they will leave. The Church is doing a pretty good job in making it easy to not trust her.
 
I can’t believe I’m actually liking one of your posts!

In all seriousness though, it is really hard to trust when silence is the response to questions. It is hard to trust when people are shamed for daring to even ask questions, or possibly just for having questions in their own minds. Faith is damaged and nothing but straight forward answers can even begin to help the suffering heal.
 
The only way to rebuild trust is transparency and true reform. Much more transparency than the Church is used to, much more than our pope is used to.
 
CilladeRoma said:
As abhorrent as abortion is, in is not a "Church"problem, it is a social problem.
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Considering millions of Catholics have gotten abortions, cooperated in some way with an abortion, vote for proabortion politicians, or are proabortion politicians, yes, it is a Church problem. It’s even a hierarchy problem, considering many bishops, or even the Vatican, have allowed proabortion speakers.
 
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Abortion is a grave evil. It is horrendous. But why does it have to take centre seat in every single discussion? When you see a priest raping a minor and his bishop protecting him, who the heck responds with “yeah that’s pretty bad, but I can’t deal with this because I’m late for my pro-life rally”.
 
Those are very good points. Thank you for clarifying your position. I do personally know at least two priests who have publicly stated their position as pro choice. One of those two is actually the priest in Memphis I referenced earlier in this thread, who happens to be excited about Holley getting removed. If there are two that I know, I am positive there are many others out there.
 
I agree. Sexual abuse affects people their entire life. Abuse by a “man of God” that is systematically covered up by a world wide Church harms on a deeper level. But none of this is what I started this thread about. It was about the removal of a Bishop, a diocese in turmoil, and seeking answers to how to help heal very deep divisions. Abortion isn’t the reason. Abuse supposedly isn’t. If it is mismanagement, why wasn’t something done about his predecessor? He has to have inherited at least part of the mess because he wasn’t bishop for long. Why aren’t there more bishops removed, because many diocese are suffering severe mismanagement. And how can it happen so quickly, when it is supposedly so hard to do? What was so awful that he had to leave so fast, yet not so bad it should be explained beyond a very vague “mismanagement and financial irregularities”?

I lived in a diocese that had a bishop “retired” during the 2002 crisis. The incoming bishop—God bless him!— did much of the same things as Bishop Holley. He made many very comfortable people angry by gutting the Catholic high school of unorthodox catechism teachers, cleaned up Mass practices that were wrong, moved and removed priests that were not behaving as priests should (in many ways), and closed or merged elementary schools. He had many complaints against him. I am so glad he stayed, and by the time he was moved to another diocese, most people loved him. I know that there HAS to be more to the story. The people of Memphis need answers so they can heal and move forward.
 
13pollitos said:
If it is mismanagement, why wasn’t something done about his predecessor? He has to have inherited at least part of the mess because he wasn’t bishop for long.
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It’s entirely possible that Bishop Holley created the vast majority of the mess himself.

When you start doing transfers, closing schools, and bringing in a priest from way outside jurisdiction to help you, you need to have a justification for all these things you are doing, you should explain them to your parishioners and priests, and you need to make sure you are not making any canon law mistakes that could give rise to a lawsuit. I saw Bishop Lennon get into trouble that way when he closed a bunch of churches.

I am sure that with any predecessor, especially one who has been there for a long time, there are areas that could be improved or given a fresh look, but the idea that the diocese was already a mess and that Bishop Holley is the fall guy for his predecessor’s actions does not seem plausible, especially since Bishop Holley himself has not said that in his own defense, and it would be a reasonable point to bring up. Instead he blamed Wuerl.
 
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Actually he did.


From the linked article:

“The bishop said that after he was installed as bishop in Memphis, he became aware of the “lack of previous governance that was here.”

“I was putting in order things that were so messed up here,” he said, noting that the diocesan tribunal was dysfunctional, and that other administrative and personnel issues had gone unaddressed by his predecessor.”

Also in the article it states:

“In response to questions about Holley’s report and Wuerl’s involvement in the apostolic visitation, Wuerl’s spokesman, Ed McFadden, told CNA only that “it would appear that an Apostolic Visitation that took place in the Diocese of Memphis, and the results of that process, may have had some connection to Bishop Holley’s dismissal.”

It’s the same article from a previous post.
 
No problem. There are several articles circulating. Another reason the diocese is so divided. It’s hard to really get clear answers.
 
There has to be more to the story than we’ve heard so far. Moving all of those priests was disruptive, certainly, but it didn’t cause any damage, short of long term. Bishop Holley hasn’t been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
With all of the accusations of criminal activity concerning the Church these days, you would think that the Pope has more important things to decide.
 
I saw an article stating that the Vicar General that recently resigned was performing unauthorized exorcisms. I’m going to see if I can find that article again and I’ll post a link if I find it.
 
Now I’m really confused. Some articles state that Father Machado was performing exorcisms without the permission of his diocese since 2016, yet there are other articles where he traveled world wide as a “speaker and exorcist.” There are even referenced to him and his books on CAF, and a Chicago Tribune article about an 8 week training course for exorcists where he is interviewed.


And another from L A Times

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/feb/18/world/fg-exorcist18
 
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MikeInVA said:
Bishop Holley hasn’t been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
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As the CNA articles above note, there were accusations raised in 2009:
In 2009 a former seminarian published a blog post alleging that in 1986, Holley, who was then a deacon, “used all the creepy predator tricks to get me to give in to him sexually,” at Washington, DC’s Theological College.
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And just when you thought the story couldn’t sound any more related to the PA grand jury report:
Most important, Holley said, in 2009 or 2010 he informed Wuerl, McCarrick, and Bishop Barry Knestout, then another Washington auxiliary bishop, about the seminarian’s allegation. He said he was “completely transparent” with Wuerl about the allegation, and that Wuerl thanked him for reporting it. McCarrick, he said, told him “not to worry about it.”
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I did see this allegation and thought it must have something to do with his removal. However, the official statement says this is not abuse related. More and we confusion…
 
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