Going Mobile

The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the retirement of the Most Reverend Oscar Hugh Lipscomb as Archbishop of Mobile, Alabama (USA). He has named as the new Archbishop of Mobile, the Most Reverend Thomas John Rodi, up to now Bishop of Biloxi, Mississippi.

Arcbishop-elect Rodi was born in New Orleans in 1949. After attending Catholic school in New Orleans, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and then a degree in civil law at Tulane University back in New Orleans. That same year (1974) he entered Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans to study Theology. (In 1986, he would earn his license in Canon Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.)

He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New Orleans May 20, 1978. He then served in the following positions: Assistant Pastor of the parishes of Saint Ann, Saint Laurence, and Saint Christopher in Metairie; Assistant Pastor at Saint Agnes in Jefferson and Saint Matthew in River Ridge; Defender or the Bond and Judge at the Archdiocesan Tribunal; Professor of Canon Law at Notre Dame Seminary. Bishop 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, Bishop Rodi was named Archdiocesan Chancellor in 1992. From 1995 to 1996, he served as Pastor of Saint Rita Parish in New Orleans. In 1996, he was named Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.

He was named Bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi May 15, 2001 and was consecrated July 2, 2001.