Thomas John Rodi

Mons. Thomas John Rodi (born March 27, 1949) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been serving as metropolitan archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Mobile in Alabama 2008 to 2025, having previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi in Mississippi from 2001 to 2008. Pope Leo XIV accepted Rodi's resignation on July 1, 2025.

Biography

Early life

Thomas Rodi was born on March 27, 1949, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated from De La Salle High School in New Orleans in 1967. He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971. He returned to New Orleans and earned a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University Law School in 1974. He then entered Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans and received his Master of Divinity degree in 1978.

Priest

Rodi was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New Orleans on May 20, 1978, by Archbishop Philip Hannan. Rodi then served as associate pastor at St. Ann Parish and at St. Christopher the Martyr Parish in Metairie and at St. Agnes in Jefferson.

Rodi became a judge for the metropolitan tribunal of the Archdiocese in 1983 and earned his licentiate in canon law from the Catholic University of America School of Canon Law at Notre Dame Seminary until 1995. He held a number of offices in the administration of the Archdiocese, including director of the Office of Religious Education from 1988 to 1989; director of the Department of Pastoral Services from 1989 to 1996; chancellor from 1992 to 1995; and both vicar general and moderator of the curia from 1996 to 2001. Rodi was raised to the rank of honorary prelate in 1992. For a time he was also pastor of St. Rita Parish in New Orleans.

Bishop of Biloxi

On May 15, 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed Rodi the bishop of Biloxi. Rodi received his episcopal consecration on July 2, 2001, in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where his grandparents were married in 1910, from Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb, with Archbishop Francis Schulte and Bishop Joseph Howze serving as co-consecrators. Rodi selected as his episcopal motto: ''Caritas Christi Urget Nos'', 2 Cor 5:14, meaning, "The love of Christ compels us." Rodi was only the second bishop of Biloxi, a diocese erected in 1977.

In 2009, after Rodi had left Biloxi for a new assignment, more than 150 parishioners at St. Paul Catholic Church in Pass Christian, Mississippi, filed a lawsuit against the Diocese, Rodi, and their pastor, claiming that their pastor had deceived them in soliciting donations for the reconstruction of their parish church after it was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 despite knowing the Diocese did not plan to replace the structure. The plaintiffs contended Rodi held their donations and related insurance monies in trust for reconstructing the church. The Mississippi Supreme Court dismissed the claims against Rodi and the Diocese on technical grounds: that the donors lacked standing to sue as members of the parish now that Rodi had abolished the parish and merged it into a new entity.

Metropolitan Archbishop of Mobile

Pope Benedict XVI named Rodi the metropolitan archbishop of Mobile on April 2, 2008, replacing Bishop Oscar Lipscomb. Rodi was installed there on June 6, 2008. He was the second archbishop of Mobile, a diocese raised to the dignity of an archdiocese in 1980.

Rodi joined the board of Cross Catholic Outreach, an international relief agency, in 2010 and chaired its board from 2011 to 2020.

In December 2018, Rodi on his own initiative released a report of all religious who had worked in the Mobile (arch)diocese credibly accused of sexual misconduct since 1950. He said: "I've been hearing and I've been sensing among the people in the church a real desire to be assured, once again, that no one with credible accusations of misconduct are serving in the Archdiocese of Mobile and just this desire to please tell us the facts." It provided the names, parish assignments, and "date of misconduct" of 12 diocesan clergy and 17 members of religious orders who worked in the (arch)diocese; 17 were deceased and the other 12 prohibited from exercising their ministry in the archdiocese.

Upon the 2021 inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, Rodi called it "very meaningful" that another professed Catholic was being inaugurated on the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of the first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy. Of policy differences with Biden Rodi said that "we know that on some of the issues there’s going to be disagreements and we’re just going to have to work together".

Crow affair

In July 2023, Rodi announced that he was notifying civil authorities that 30-year-old Alex Crow, whom he had ordained a priest just two years earlier, had left for Italy with an 18-year-old girl, a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. No crime was alleged but Rodi cited "the circumstances of his departure". Crow had abandoned his parish work and Rodi had suspended him from ministry: "he may no longer exercise ministry as a priest, nor to tell people he is a priest, nor to dress as a priest".

Civil authorities launched investigations, concerned about Crow's behavior before the girl turned 18. In mid-August Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch expressed disappointment with the cooperation of Church officials who in his view responded to queries but seemed incapable of going "above and beyond". Rodi protested that characterization, citing his alert that provoked the sheriff's investigation and his restrictions on Crow's ministry.

On September 24, protestors at the cathedral complained of a lack of transparency on the part of the Archdiocese. They told reporters that the Archdiocese routinely failed to take action when warned of inappropriate behavior, even when confronted with evidence. They called for proactive measures to prevent another Crow incident. They pointed to an online petition with over a thousand signatures demanding that Rodi and the president and principal of the high school resign their positions. In a 30 September statement in response, Rodi said complaints only reached him just before the pair left for Italy, that sexual misconduct was not alleged, and that "the Office of Child Protection opened a file to begin investigating these reports".

Civil authorities closed their investigation in November, stymied by the young woman's refusal to cooperate. While Rodi could not ask for Crow to be laicized until six months after he had abandoned his duties, Crow himself requested laicization from the Vatican in the fall. Rodi announced Pope Francis' grant of laicization in January 2024.

Retirement

In March 2024, Rodi submitted his letter of resignation to Pope Francis as required of bishops when they reach the age of 75. In 2023 Rodi was building a home near Christ the King Parish in Daphne, Alabama. Pope Leo XIV accepted Rodi's resignation on July 1, 2025.

See also

* Catholic Church hierarchy
* Catholic Church in the United States
* Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
* List of Catholic bishops of the United States
* Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops

Notes

References

External links

Biography at Catholic Hierarchy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodi, Thomas John
1949 births
Living people
Georgetown University alumni
Notre Dame Seminary alumni
Clergy from New Orleans
Roman Catholic archbishops of Mobile
Roman Catholic Diocese of Biloxi
Catholic University of America alumni
Tulane University alumni
Roman Catholic bishops in Mississippi
Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II
Catholics from Louisiana
Catholic University of America School of Canon Law alumni
21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States