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Most Reverend Thomas J. Rodi
Most Reverend Thomas J. Rodi, who headed the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi, in South Mississippi, since July 2, 2001, was named Archbishop of Mobile by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on April 2, 2008, and was installed at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on June 6 in Mobile. In a rare move, the Vatican also named Archbishop Rodi Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Biloxi until another bishop is installed.
Archbishop Rodi is a native of New Orleans, graduated from De La Salle High School in 1967 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 1971. He returned to New Orleans where he earned a law degree from the Tulane University Law School in 1974, and then entered Notre Dame Seminary, where he received a master of divinity degree in 1978.
Archbishop Rodi was ordained to the priesthood on May 20, 1978, and served as associate pastor at St. Ann and St. Christopher the Martyr parishes, in Metairie, and at St. Agnes in Jefferson. In 1983, he was appointed judge for the Metropolitan Tribunal, which handles marriage cases. He earned a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1986, and served as professor of canon law at Notre Dame Seminary from 1986 to 1995.
Archbishop Rodi served as director of the Office of Religious Education from 1988 to 1989, and as executive director of the Department of Pastoral Services from 1989 to 1996. In addition to his other duties, Archbishop Rodi was named archdiocesan chancellor in 1992, and in 1996, he was named vicar general and moderator of the curia, overseeing virtually all archdiocesan departments, agencies and institutions. In 1992, he was named a prelate of honor (a monsignor) by Pope John Paul II and he was appointed an archdiocesan consultor.
Archbishop Rodi also served as administrator of St. Matthew the Apostle Parish in River Ridge and ministered in Our Lady of the Rosary and St. Pius X parishes in New Orleans.
He became pastor of St. Rita Church, in New Orleans, in 1995 until he was appointed vicar general and moderator of the curia in 1996. He was ordained a bishop and installed as Bishop of Biloxi on July 2, 2001.
Archbishop Rodi has served on the United States Catholic Archbishop Conference’s (USCCB) Committee on Sexual Abuse and on the Committee for Women in Society and in the Church.
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