His first ministry position after ordination was as a curate at Holy Trinity Church, Dartford.
Holland was precentor at Gibraltar Cathedral and then chaplain of Christ Church, Naples.
Holland was consecrated as a bishop on 22 July 1986, by Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Southwark Cathedral.
Holland returned to the United Kingdom in 1995, to the Diocese of Chelmsford, as Bishop of Colchester.
[10] It was suggested that this would work in the same way as the remarriage of divorced couples, in that no priest would be forced to do so if their conscience did not allow it.