National Chaplain

Chaplain’s Corner 

Most Rev. Martin D. Holley

Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Memphis

Bishop Martin D. Holley was born on Dec. 31, 1954, in Pensacola, Florida, the eighth of 14 children. His parents, Sylvester and Mary Elizabeth Holley, became Catholics as adults.

Bishop Holley attended Catholic elementary schools; Tate High School, where he was captain of the basketball team and a member of the school Hall of Fame; Faulkner State Junior College in Bay Minette, Alabama; and Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama. He was a member of the basketball team at Alabama State and received a Bachelor of Science degree in management in 1977. He also took graduate level courses in business at the University of West Florida.

Bishop Holley attended Theological College in Washington, DC from 1982-1984 and completed his seminary studies at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida in 1987. He was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee on May 8, 1987.

Following ordination, he served as a parochial vicar and then administrator of St. Mary Catholic Church in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. In 1992, he became parochial vicar of St. Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola and in 2000, administrator of Little Flower Catholic Church in Pensacola, then pastor in 2002. He held this position until his appointment by Pope John Paul II as auxiliary bishop of Washington. He was ordained a bishop on July 2, 2004 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC.

While in Pensacola, he served on the Council of Priests, including two terms as chairman; as a Tribunal Advocate; spiritual director of the Serra Club of West Florida and as the spiritual director and an instructor for the Permanent Diaconate program. He served on the Diocesan Commission for Catholic Schools from 1992-1998 and was the director of the Department of Ethnic Concerns from 1993-1995. He has been a member of the Joint Conference of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus since 1983.

Bishop Holley has served on a number of committees for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, including Cultural Diversity, Communications and Pro-Life. He is chair of the Subcommittee for African-American Catholics and a member of the Subcommittee on Africa, a consultant to the Committee on Migration and is on the board of Catholic Relief Services. From 2004-2007, he served as a member of the Subcommittees for African-American Catholics; Laity, Women, Children and Youth; and Bishop’s Ministry and Life.

He also has served on the boards of the DC Catholic Conference, Maryland Catholic Conference and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese.

MOST REV. MARTIN D. HOLLEY, D.D., V.G.
Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Memphis