Ame Byrd, Sr.,

May 19, 2017

Archbishop Christophe Pierre

Apostolic Nuncro to the United States of America
3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW

Washington DC. 20008-3687

Vour Excellency,

It is with great respect, passion and concern that this letter has been written. In the
midst of what many are describing as a spiritual crisis, the Diocese of Memphis has
recently been plagued with rumor and innuendo regarding the reassignment of many of
our parish priests. Sandwiched into between the rumor and innuendo, we know is some
shred of truth.

lam a long time parishioner at the Catholic Church of the Incarnation in Collierville,
Tennessee, as well as Chairperson of our parish Finance Council. I am representing
our parish and reaching out to you for help and guidance.

Over the last several weeks, we have heard, on a consistent and unofficial basis, that
our Pastor, Father Ernie DeBlasio, is being reassigned. In the midst of this disturbing
news, our parish has established a unified front communicating our concerns in writing
to you, Bishop Holley and Archbishop Kurtz that to prematurely lose our pastor is to
shorten the journey that he has asked us to take with him.

Two weeks ago, the Incarnation Church Finance Council, sent a document to Bishop
Holley outlining the potential yearly revenue loss of 750,000 to our parish should
Father Ernie be reassigned. I have included a copy of this document for your perusal.

The journey that we mention includes the witness of a renewed and vibrant parish, a
growth of 450 registered families since Father Ernie became our pastor in June of 2014,
an inspiring message from Father Ernie every morning, watching Father create a strong
connection with the 20s and 30s of our parish by meeting once a month for his Skybox
Sessions, helping them to grow in their spiritual needs. Learning more about our faith,
through Catholicism 101, every Sunday between 8 am and 10:30 am Mass, his want to
share his beautiful artwork and statues that adorn the halls and walls of our beautiful
church and always encouraging us to learn more about our saints and the history of the
Catholic Church. His homilies, every day, especially Sunday, wake up and refresh the
love that we have for our Lord, for our faith. The children of our parish and school
admire, respect and love him unconditionally. It is these same children who encourage
their parents to go to Mass after PRE on Sunday, rather than go home. We now see
these families pile into our pews, rather than into their cars.

As Catholics, we know that priests are reassigned, but we also know that the average
tenure is 6 -- 12 years. Just under three years ago, Father Ernie became our pastor and
he came to Incarnation with a concrete business plan. His goal was to pay off the
mortgage on our Ministry House and school, both have been accomplished. He is
committed to paying off the mortgage on the church by April 2020 in order to pave the
way for future growth and development to benefit the church, school and community.
Even though Father has done a tremendous job of reducing our debt from 5,000,000
to 2,500,000, if we lose him, we will lose the momentum hat he has built in
rejuvenating our parish which translates into a loss of fam s, an estimated 35 750,000
loss of revenue per year as mentioned above and our spirit.

 

More importantly, Father Ernie came to us with a spiritual plan to bring more young
people, and people in general, to Mass to receive the Eucharist, encourage
volunteerism to grow our ministries, encourage evangelization by regularly asking us to
extend an invitation to people to encounter Jesus, asking us to regularly attend
Confession so that we can experience God's Mercy, and fill our church with beautiful
and uplifting music. He lives his faith in front of us every day for everyone to see and
witness and reminds us that to be Catholic is the most wonderful thing in the world!
Father Ernie truly understands the many trials and challenges that we encounter as we
live and share the gift of our faith and he helps us to battle these challenges with
wisdom, knowledge, compassion and understanding.

For the future of our parish and school, we respectfully request that you intercede on
our behalf to remedy and help avoid the potential for a significant spiritual and financial
crisis in our parish and diocese.

If you should have any questions, or require more information, please contact me at
--

Thank you for the generosity of your time and consideration and would greatly
appreciate the courtesy of a reply.

Asking the blessing of Your Eminence, we are, Yours respectfully in Christ,

 

Artie Sr. Finance Committee Chairman, Catholic Church of the lncamation

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Enclosure