Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop in the United States. The Holy See announced today that the Pope appointed Bishop Martin David Holley as bishop of Memphis, Tennessee.
He succeeds Bishop James Terry Steib, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.
Born in Pensacola, Florida in 1954, Martin David Holley would go on to study at Alabama State University, the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., and Saint Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was ordained a priest in 1987.
Bishop Holley served in a number of pastoral roles in Florida, including parish vicar, director of the diocesan department for questions of ethics, and member of education and vocations boards and commissions, and of the presbyteral council, among several others.
Prior to his appointment as Bishop of Memphis, he was serving as Titular Bishop of Rusubisir and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington.
The American diocese of Memphis comprises an area of some 27,585 kilometers. According to the most recent statistics in 2013, out of a population of some 1,595,650, some 77,800 (less than 5 percent), are Catholic. They are served by some 82 priests, 50 permanent deacons, and nearly 100 religious.
