Martin David Holley (born December 31, 1954) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, from 2016 to 2018, when he was removed by Pope Francis for financial mismanagement of the diocese.
Holley was a member of the diocesan council of priests, the spiritual director of the Serra Club of West Florida, the spiritual director and instructor for the permanent diaconate program, the director of the Department of Ethnic Concerns of the diocese, and a member of the Joint Conference of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.[2]
In November 2014, Holley was elected by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to serve on the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.[6] Within the USCCB, he was a member of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; the Committee on Pro-Life Activities; the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs; and the National Collections Committee.[4]
For 12 years, Holley served as auxiliary bishop and the vicar general for non-Hispanic ethnic ministries.[4] He was a member of the Washington InterFaith Network, the International Foundation for the support of Deaf People, and Catholic Athletes for Christ.[4] Holley also became a member of the archdiocesan College of Consultors, the Presbyteral Council, the Seminarian Review Board, Administrative Board, and as chairman of the College of Deans.[5]
On August 23, 2016, Pope Francis named Holley as bishop of the Diocese of Memphis.[4][7] He was installed on October 19, 2016.[8]
A few months after his arrival in 2016, Holley asked for letters of resignation from all of his parish priests. He then reappointed all of them as "parochial administrators". This move allowed Holley to transfer certain priests to new parishes without their resignations from their existing parishes. Holley used this administrative maneuver to transfer approximately 75% of the pastors in the diocese. He never provided any reason for the transfers.[9][10] Holley also appointed Monsignor Clement J. Machado to the posts of vicar general, moderator of the curia and diocesan chancellor.[a][11] In January 2018, citing lack of funds, the diocese announced the closure of the ten schools in its network of Memphis Jubilee Catholic Schools, founded in 1999 to serve children from poor families.[12]
In June 2018, in response to complaints from the diocese, as well as a drop in parish donations, the Vatican sent Archbishops Wilton Gregory and Bernard Hebda on an apostolic visitation to Memphis for three days. During their visitation, the two archbishops met with several dozen priests.[13][14] A few days after the visitation, Machado resigned all three of his positions in the diocese.[15] The investigative results of the visitation were never released.
According to a 2018 report in the National Catholic Register, a seminarian had complained in a blog in 2009 that Holley, then a deacon, made sexual advances towards him at the Theological College in Washington. In the summer of 2018, that allegation was officially delivered to the apostolic nuncio in the United States.[16]
According to some reports, sometime in 2018 Pope Francis requested Holley's resignation as bishop, but Holley refused to resign.[17] On October 24, 2018, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had removed Holley as bishop of Memphis, citing his "management of the diocese." Pope Francis named Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville as apostolic administrator to oversee the diocese until a new bishop was installed.[18][19][16]
On October 25, 2018, Holley told the Catholic News Agency that the Vatican removed him as bishop due to a vendetta against him by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio. According to Holley, he had advised Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 against appointing Wuerl as Vatican secretary of state, and Wuerl wanted revenge. Holley denied the allegations of sexual abuse and the findings of financial mismanagement.[20][16] In response to Holley's claims, a spokesman for Wuerl said that the visitation resulted in Holley's ouster.[16]On March 5, 2019, Pope Francis appointed Bishop David Talley as the new bishop of Memphis.[21]
