Leaders of three Archdiocese of Louisville agencies are leaving their posts this month after years of service.
M. Annette Mandley-Turner, executive director of the Office of Multicultural Ministry, is retiring after 50 years of ministry.
Father Martin A. Linebach, the vicar for vocations and director of the Vocation Office, is retiring this year.
Father Anthony L. Chandler, a pastor, the vicar for priests and director of the Priest Personnel Office, will continue serving as a pastor while his archdiocesan assignments are concluding.
Turner was the first director of the archdiocese’s Office of Black Catholic Ministry, established in 1989 by the late Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly. The office later became the Office of African American Ministry, which became part of the Office of Multicultural Ministry.
Before becoming an archdiocesan agency director, she served as a youth minister for parishes in Region 1. She came to that role after teaching in Catholic schools, including the old Christ the King, St. Columba and St. Denis schools.
“Her dedication, devotion and commitment to meeting the needs of individuals from diverse cultures has enriched our archdiocese,” said Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre. “Throughout her tenure, Ms. Turner has also uplifted young people by celebrating their accomplishments, encouraging them to deepen their relationship with God, and to be leaders in the church. I am deeply grateful to Ms. Turner for the service she rendered to me, to my predecessors, and to the faithful in the archdiocese.”
Dr. Brian B. Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer of the archdiocese, said Turner “has been a source of vision, first for cultural inclusion but also for reminding each person of the potential they possess. She brought her skills as a teacher and youth minister into her roles in pastoral leadership for the archdiocese. We are a better church because she has served so well.”
A national search for her successor is underway.
Father Linebach has served as the vicar for vocations and director of the Vocation Office since July of 2023. He previously served as vicar general of the archdiocese and as a pastor.
Archbishop Fabre expressed his gratitude for his service in his vocation ministry.
“I am grateful to Father Linebach for his work in vocations for the past three years. He has done a wonderful job in nurturing a ‘culture of vocations’ in the archdiocese and in increasing the number of our seminarians,” he said. “As he now moves into retirement from active ministry, I would also like to express my gratitude to Father Linebach for his ‘yes’ to the priesthood and for his faithful service to the Archdiocese of Louisville for the past 39 years. Throughout his ministry, Father Linebach’s ministry and leadership has been beneficial to the archbishops whom he served and to the faithful across the archdiocese.”
Reynolds noted Father Linebach has indicated that working with seminarians helped him grow in his own priesthood.
“And in turn, he put his priesthood in service to the whole archdiocese. Enabling others to be their best selves is his legacy in vocation ministry,” Reynolds added.
The Vocation Office will be led by two priests — Father Matthew H. Millay has been appointed director of vocations, and Father Steven J. Reeves has been appointed director of seminarians. A new vicar for vocations has not been appointed.
Father Chandler has served as vicar for priests and director of the Priest Personnel Office since July of 2023. As those duties conclude, he will continue to serve as pastor of Holy Spirit and St. Leonard churches and will also serve as the presbyteral moderator of St. Martha Church.
Archbishop Fabre also expressed his gratitude for Father Chandler for his work in diocesan leadership.
“During his tenure, he fostered continuing education and provided support for priests. Father Chandler has also been an insightful collaborator on our Leadership Team for the archdiocese, and I am grateful for his leadership and ministry,” said Archbishop Fabre.
Reynolds added, “Father Chandler is what is called a multi-tasker.”
“While remaining a pastor and a school administrator, he accepted the call to serve his brother priests as vicar for priests. This is not a role for the faint of heart, as it is the place where perhaps the most complaint calls get sent for any possible issue someone may have about their priest or parish.
“In any week, he may be connecting a priest with a vacant assignment one day and the next day comforting a family and a parish of a priest who has died, and the day after helping a priest from a foreign country get settled in Kentucky. Always an advocate for priests, he supported his brothers well,” Reynolds said.
