Thomas John Rodi

Thomas John Rodi (born March 27, 1949) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Mobile from 2008 to 2025. He previously served as Bishop of Biloxi from 2001 to 2008.

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.

Work as a priest Rodi was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New Orleans by Archbishop Philip Matthew Hannan on May 20, 1978. Rodi received his episcopal consecration on July 2, 2001, in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 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."

Archbishop of Mobile Pope Benedict XVI named Rodi as archbishop of Mobile on April 2, 2008, replacing Bishop Oscar Lipscomb. Rodi was installed there on June 6, 2008. Rodi joined the board of Cross Catholic Outreach, an international relief agency, in 2010 and chaired its board from 2011 to 2020.

In 2018, Rodi, on his own initiative, released a report of all clergy and religious in the archdiocese who had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct since 1950. It provided the names and further information about 12 diocesan clergymen and 17 members of religious orders.

In July 2023, Rodi announced that the 30-year-old priest Alex Crow had left Alabama for Italy with an 18-year-old girl, a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. No crime was alleged but Rodi notified police, citing "the circumstances of his departure". Rodi suspended Crow 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." Police closed their investigation because the young woman refused to cooperate. Crow later requested laicization from the Vatican and it was granted in January 2024.

Retirement Pope Leo XIV accepted Rodi's resignation as archbishop of Mobile on July 1, 2025.