Pope Names Bishop Holley as New Bishop of Memphis, Accepts Resignation of Bishop Steib

WASHINGTON—Pope Francis has named Bishop Martin D. Holley, 61, as bishop of Memphis, Tennessee, and accepted the resignation of Bishop J. Terry Steib, 76, from the pastoral governance of that diocese. Bishop Holley has served as an auxiliary bishop of Washington for the last 12 years.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, August 23, by Msgr. Walter Erbì, chargé d' affaires of the nunciature of the United States.

Martin D. Holley was born on December 31, 1954 in Pensacola, Florida. He attended Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama, where he received a bachelor of science degree in 1977. He studied theology at the Catholic University of America and completed his seminary studies at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida, where he earned a master of divinity degree in 1987. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee on May 8, 1987.

Assignments after ordination included, parochial vicar and administrator of St. Mary Catholic Church in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; parochial vicar of St. Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola, 1992; administrator of Little Flower Catholic Church in Pensacola, 2000, and pastor in 2002. He also served on the Council of Priests, as a tribunal advocate, spiritual director of the Serra Club of West Florida, and spiritual director and instructor for the permanent diaconate program. He served on the Diocesan Commission for Catholic Schools from 1992-1998 and was director of the Department of Ethnic Concerns from 1993-1995.

Bishop Holley was appointed auxiliary bishop of Washington on May 18, 2004, and was ordained a bishop on July 2, 2004. He serves as vicar general for the Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the archdiocesan College of Consultors, Presbyteral Council, Seminarian Review Board, Administrative Board, and chairman of the College of Deans.

Bishop J. Terry Steib was born on May 17, 1940, Vacherie, Louisiana. He was ordained a priest on January 6, 1967. On December 6, 1983, he was appointed an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and ordained a bishop on February 10, 1984. He was appointed bishop of Memphis on March 23, 1993 and was installed on May 5, 1993.  

The Diocese of Memphis comprises 10,682 square miles in the state of Tennessee. It has a total population of 1,570,077 people of which 65,152 or 4 percent, are Catholic.
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