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.[1]
Rodi was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New Orleans on May 20, 1978,[3] 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.[2]
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 in Washington, D.C., in 1986. Rodi then taught canon law at Notre Dame Seminary until 1995.[3] 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;[2]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.[3] For a time he was also pastor of St. Rita Parish in New Orleans.[2]
Pope Benedict XVI named Rodi the metropolitan archbishop of Mobile on April 2, 2008,[4] replacing Bishop Oscar Lipscomb. Rodi was installed there on June 6, 2008.[2] He was the second archbishop of Mobile, a diocese named an archdiocese in 1980.[7]
Rodi joined the board of Cross Catholic Outreach, an international relief agency, in 2010 and chaired its board from 2011 to 2020.[8]
In December 2018, Rodi on his own initiative released a report of all clergy and religious who had worked in the Mobile (arch)diocese credibly accused of sexual misconduct since 1950. It provided the names and further information about 12 diocesan clergymen and 17 members of religious orders who worked in the (arch)diocese.[9]
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."[10] Civil authorities closed their investigation because the young woman refused to cooperate.[11] Crow requested laicization and was granted it in January 2024.[12]
Retirement
Pope Leo XIV accepted Rodi's resignation on July 1, 2025.[13]
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