Longtime Holy Name of Jesus pastor passes away

By Rob Herbst
The Catholic Week
Fr. John L. Holleman, who most recently served as pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Semmes, passed away on Aug. 18 at the age of 83.
A Mass of Christian Burial was help Aug. 22 at Our Lady of the Gulf Parish in Gulf Shores. Fr. Holleman retired to Gulf Shores in 2016 following his assignment at Holy Name of Jesus.
Fr. Holleman, a Mobile native, was born and raised Methodist. He later became an Episcopal priest and eventually converted to Catholicism. Fr. Holleman’s ministry as a Catholic priest included time in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska, and Archdiocese of Mobile.
As Fr. Holleman described in a 2007 interview on the EWTN program “The Journey Home,” his life’s journey was “an adventure. I’ve had enough experiences for three lifetimes.”
After serving as an Episcopal priest, Fr. Holleman was received into the Catholic Church in 1980 and ordained to the priesthood on Oct. 1, 1981, by Archbishop Philip M. Hannan at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Fr. Holleman served in several New Orleans-area parishes before moving to Mobile and becoming associate pastor at St. Ignatius Parish in Mobile in 2000. 
Fr. Holleman served at St. Ignatius for only two months before being named parochial administrator of St. Elizabeth Parish in Greenville and Christ the King Parish in Andalusia. He also served as associate pastor of Our Savior Parish in Mobile and St. Bede the Venerable Parish in Montgomery before being incardinated into the Archdiocese of Mobile in 2007. He became pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in 2008 where he oversaw the construction of a new parish church that was dedicated in December 2015.