2018-07-06-eEdition

PAGE 20 THE CATHOLIC WEEK JULY 6, 2018 Archbishop From page 1 Archdiocese of Mobile file photo Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi recently celebrated his 40th anniversary as a priest and 10th anniversary as Archbishop of Mobile. wanted to do with my life and what I felt God wanted me to do. Q: How much support did you get from making the move to the semi- nary? Support from family members, friends, etc.? A: My family only wanted what was good for me. They did not think I would stay in the seminary and so were not at first supportive of me wasting the time of going into the seminary rather than pursuing a le- gal career. However, my parents were very faith-filled people and I was very blessed to have themasmy parents and there could not have been two prouder people the day I was ordained a priest. The 1970s were a significant moment in the life of the Church. When I went into the seminary, many priests left the priest- hood. Hundreds in this country. I think the total during that period of time was about 3,000 priests leaving the active ministry. In the Archdiocese of New Orleans, in the 18 months leading up to when I entered the seminary, a priest left the active ministry on the rate of one every six weeks.The seminary enrollment around the country was plum- meting.Many ofmy friends askedme “Why are you going into the seminary since it ap- pears everybody is leaving?” So I did not experience a great deal of support. Conservatives felt that seminar- ians were “hippies” who would destroy the Church. And the liberals felt that seminari- answereproppingupsomething thatneeded to collapse. So there was not much support for guys to be seminarians.I was very blessed with the guys whoweremy classmates in the seminary. We have remained exceptionally close throughout the 40 years since we were ordained. And I think part of the strength of our friendship is that we could not get a considerable amount of support.We needed to support to each other. Q: Let’s talk about your time in the Archdiocese of Mobile. Do you remember the phone call phone call you received 10 years ago? A: Vividly. The Nuncio, the Pope’s representative in the United States who lives in Washington, D.C., called me and told me that I had been appointed Archbishop of Mobile. And I told him that my answer to the Church will always be yes, but that I did not think it was a good idea. In 2008, the Diocese of Biloxi was in a critical moment in its recovery from Hurri- cane Katrina. … I felt whoever at that mo- ment would be bishop was needed to direct the recovery. I knew if I went to Mobile, it would be usually about a year before a new bishop would arrive and that would not be good for the diocese to be without a bish- op for a year. The Nuncio thanked me for my comments and told me I would be the Archbishop of Mobile.That was the end of the conversation. A half-hour later he called back and wanted to talk more.That always impressed me about the Nuncio.He’s a very important and very busy man. And after our conver- sation it would have been understandable if he had then gone about and taken care of his many other duties.But he thought about our conversation and he called back and we talked further and he said to me “Well then you will be bishop of both dioceses.” I’m not sure that was what I was ask- ing for. So for a year, I was bishop of both dioceses. Q: What was that whole experi- ence like for you? It was very stressful.And it was only pos- sible because of the wonderful people in both dioceses that helped make it work. But I carried two cellphones that first year. One of the more interesting days was celebrating twoChrismMasses on the same day -11 (a.m.) in the Cathedral in Mobile and 5 (p.m.) in the Cathedral in Biloxi. Q: When you look back and re- flect on the 10 years in the Archdio- cese of Mobile, what do you see as the major blessings that the archdi- ocese has received during that time? A:The Holy Spirit is working powerfully in our archdiocese and in so many differ- ent ways.We have many blessings with our clergy, religious and laity who build up the Kingdom of God through our archdiocese. One of the blessings in being archbishop is being able to travel around and to see so many good things happening - things that most people will never be aware of that are happening. But many good things are hap- pening in our archdiocese. … I keep up on mileage and in the past 10 years I have driven the equivalent of 18 times around the circumference of the Earth, and counting. It is good for the archbishop to be visible, be- cause if not, people might feel that they are forgotten - which is not true.But theywould get that impression and I hope that by trav- eling around the archdiocese I can let people know that no parish is forgotten. Q: You are also very visible at our schools in the archdiocese. Talk about the importance of doing that. A:When I arrived 10 years ago I made a promise that as long as I was archbishop and as long asGod gaveme the strength,I would visit every classroom in every elementary school every year and I would visit every the- ology class in every high school every year. I have kept to that promise. I do not ex- pect that the students remember anything I say in my visits, but I’m confident they will remember the visit.The fact that the arch- bishop came to their classroom and spoke with them every year will be a memory that will help tie them into the Church. I think my visits are important in creating a feeling among our young people that they’re mem- bers of the Church and hopefully they’ll carry this sense of belonging to the Church throughout their lives. I’ve not only tried to be present in our Catholic schools, but in many ways present to the youth throughout the archdiocese. I spend the entireweekend at theArchdiocese Catholic Youth Conference, for example. I will go to some of the Search Retreats or retreats for young people that are conducted in Spanish. When I arrived in the archdiocese in 2008, the Church throughout the United States and locally had gone through some traumatic years of scandals arising frommis- conduct with minors. It was my impression, not only in our archdiocese but throughout our country, that priests and other Church ministers were reluctant to minister to youth because of the fear of their ministry being misunderstood. I thought that the best ser- vice I could give was to visibly be present to the youth and to encourage youth ministry in our archdiocese. I think youth ministry in the past 10 years, particularly with teenagers, has seen a tremendous growth. Q: When you go to events such as ACYC, does that give you hope that the future is bright for the Church in the Archdiocese of Mobile? A: I’m very hopeful about the future of the Church. In many ways, I think we are living in a golden age of the Church. I see a laity increasingly energized and engaged in Church life.There is a hunger for Scrip- ture among our people.There is an increas- ing sense that being a Catholic must affect one’s life. Society increasingly will not sup- port people of faith.And so “Social Catholi- cism”is not a viable option for the future.By “Social Catholicism,”I mean one knows the teachings of the Church, but it doesn’t affect the way they live. People of faith are going to have to be committed to living the faith. Society is not going to support them in our increasingly pluralistic and secular society. So I think we’re in a golden age despite all the chal- lenges - and the challenges are real. I am not Pollyanna about this. Often I say that I am not optimistic about the immediate future, but I am hopeful.There is a difference there. On the cross, Jesus was not optimistic. But He was hopeful. He knew it was a time of suffering and passion, but He knew His Father was in charge. So He was not op- timistic, but He was hopeful. The Church will go through this time of opposition and even suffering, but God is in charge.And so I remain hopeful and I think in the future, people will look back at this period of the Church and feel that it was a very, very im- portant time for the Church. Q: You touched on this a little bit in regard to youth ministry, but in general how has the archdiocese changed in the past 10 years? A: Another area that has been very important has been to make our parishes welcoming to all people. In 2009 I wrote a letter to all the priests asking that minis- try to our Hispanic brothers and sisters be parish-based.What I meant by that is that it was not sufficient merely to have a priest come in and celebrate Mass and then leave.The local parish leaders were to min- ister to the Hispanic Catholics and to let Hispanic Catholics know that this parish was their parish too. I’ve seen tremendous growth of a welcoming spirit throughout the archdiocese. Q: What is the greatest chal- lenge you face as archbishop? A: I would say the number one chal- lenge is of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. The challenges don’t change. I read about our first bishop, Bishop Portier, and the challenges that he had are the same chal- lenges I have. Maybe slightly different, but they’re the same. How to share the faith on the American frontier where there were no supports to the faith - there weren’t churches or schools. How do we share the faith today in a so- ciety that increasingly doesn’t support people of faith? Vocations. That’s a concern for us today. Serving the poor. Same thing today. How to pay for it all. Same thing today. New immigrants were arriving who spoke a different language from the priests because the priests all spoke French.And the new immigrants from Ireland were speaking English. Same concern here today. Sadly, the scandalous behavior of one or two priests. Same today. So the challenges remain the same as in 1825. But first and foremost is the salvation of souls.And that is, and always will be,the calling of the Church. The last words Jesus said toHis disciples was “go out and teach all nations.”That has to re- main the focus of all of us in theChurch.The Church, clergy, religious and laity. I think each one of us is called to evan- gelize, wherever we find ourselves in our homes, in our circles of friends, where we work, where we are. We are called to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Q: What has you excited for the archdiocese in the coming years? A:There are a number of things which I would like for us to accomplish together in the next six years that I have....It will only be possible with all of us working together, and I’m looking forward to all of us in the arch- diocese continuing to build the Kingdom of God in our midst.