By signing the document, the Rev. Hoang Lam, the pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Warren, would have resigned his office at the end of June 2027 and could have been reassigned to another parish as part of the archdiocese's restructuring process.
Lam, who is currently on a medical leave of absence, wants to remain at Our Lady of Grace on Ryan Road and said his current assignment there doesn't end until 2028. In an interview before his leave of absence was announced, Lam said that if a priest is rotated into his position who doesn't speak Vietnamese — his parish serves Metro Detroit's Vietnamese-American community — the move could affect church attendance.
Lam said that after he decided not to sign the document, his parish was audited. He said the Archdiocese of Detroit plans to remove him from his position. If he is removed, he could then be transferred to another parish.
"They intend to remove me, right? ... That's why they audit me," he said.
Lam, who now has an attorney, said that if he is removed from his post, that would affect "the whole parish."
"People will scatter," he said. "People will not come in here. People will not ... because we are the only ... national Vietnamese parish in the whole Archdiocese of Detroit."
Holly Fournier, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Detroit, didn't confirm or deny whether the audit had anything to do with Lam's refusal to resign his post as part of the restructuring process and said the archdiocese does not comment on human resources-related matters. She said the archdiocese's primary concern is "the dignity and privacy" of the individuals it serves and works alongside.
"Audits are an established part of our financial oversight," Fournier said, "and may be conducted as a routine measure or when circumstances warrant a closer review, independent of personnel matters."
The Rev. Mario Amore, executive director of parish renewal for the archdiocese, said an audit of Our Lady of Grace Vietnamese Parish was completed "in accordance with the Archdiocese’s normal processes and procedures." The findings have been shared with Archbishop Edward Weisenburger and will soon be shared with parish leadership, he said.
Amore said that as part of the archdiocese's restructuring efforts, Weisenburger asked 97 parish priests whose current assignments extend beyond June 30, 2027, to resign their offices effective that date. It was unclear Sept. 1 how many of those 97 signed the form agreeing to resign their posts.
The resignations are not effective until June 30 next year. A resignation means that a priest "no longer possesses the stability of office that comes with a formal pastoral assignment from the Archbishop," Amore said. It provides the archbishop with "the flexibility to make new assignments" based on the pastoral needs of the archdiocese, he said.
Amore said that generally, a priest would be permitted to complete his term of office if he refused to sign the resignation form.
Priests submit resignations
The Archdiocese of Detroit has about 250 priests, but those numbers are expected to sharply fall over the next decade, which is one factor in its multi-phase restructuring plan. Most of its priests are 50 years or older, according to the archdiocese's restructuring website, and the total number of priests is projected to decline 40% in the next 10 years.
As part of the restructuring, the archdiocese plans to shift to a "pastorate" model of service, in which one pastor would serve multiple churches. And a "large-scale reassignment of priests" should be expected, according to the archdiocese.
Previously, in 2021 and 2022, the archdiocese's then 216 parishes came together in 51 groupings called “families of parishes," according to the archdiocese's digital news service, Detroit Catholic. The Rev. Sean Bonner, the pastor at St. Mary Parish in Wayne, said the majority of pastors in the archdiocese started their existing assignments in 2021 or 2022.
Their assignments will expire in 2027 or 2028, as pastors generally serve a six-year term at a parish, Bonner said.
A majority of the active priests in the archdiocese will get new assignments starting in July 2027 as part of the restructuring process, Detroit Catholic said.
Bonner said he believes priests whose terms end after 2027 were asked to submit resignations to the archdiocese. That would allow them to be reassigned to another parish before the end of their term.
Bonner said he didn't have to submit a letter of resignation because his term expires in 2027.
Lam doesn't sign the document
Lam, who has been Our Lady of Grace's pastor since 2015, said his assignment ends in 2028. He said Weisenburger asked him and other priests to resign.
Lam said he worries about how his parish would be affected without a pastor who speaks Vietnamese. Parishioners, some of whom live far from the parish, would go to Mass closer to where they live, he said.
The archbishop gave priests two options, Lam said: Either they say yes or they say no, and Lam said no. He met with Weisenburger and said that he is happy at his parish and isn’t seeking a new assignment.
About a month or two months later, his parish was audited.
“And then they audited without notice,” Lam added.
A few representatives of the archdiocese just showed up one day, he said. Lam said an auxiliary bishop said the parish is to be audited by the archbishop, and he showed him a letter with all of the items to audit.
Lam recalled that a priest told him that if he doesn’t comply with all of the items, he could be removed from his post. The priest said he was surprised, but he complied with the audit.
Lam said that the way the priest spoke to him made him “feel stress.” He met with his doctor, who suggested he take a leave of absence for six months.
Removal process
When the archdiocese audited the parish, it couldn't find "anything wrong" about him personally but did find some administrative issues with the parish, Lam said.
The archdiocese has communicated that Lam could learn more about "administrative duty" by going to another parish, he said.
Lam said the archdiocese told him that he wouldn't be removed if he signed the resignation document and took a psychological test.
"If I agree to all that, then I can stay here, and the audit's almost like gone," he said.
Lam said that his lawyer suggested that he not sign the document, because if he does, the archbishop could remove him at any point.
Lam rejected the archdiocese's offer. He now believes he is in the process of being removed.
Lam couldn't be reached for additional comment after the archdiocese's late August announcement that he had been granted a leave of absence. Amore said Lam’s medical leave is "a private matter unrelated to restructuring."
Weisenburger's letter said that while Lam is on leave, Bishop Robert Fisher will serve as the administrator of the parish.
He said the Capuchin Franciscans will provide sacramental assistance, including "the Vietnamese language Sacraments."