Frank Joseph Rodimer

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Peter Poreku Dery
Personal details
Born(1927-10-25)October 25, 1927
DiedDecember 6, 2018(2018-12-06) (aged 91)
Totowa, New Jersey, U.S.
Styles of
Frank Joseph Rodimer
Reference style
Spoken style
Your Excellency
Religious styleBishop

Frank Joseph Rodimer (October 25, 1927 – December 6, 2018) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey from 1977 to 2004.

Biography

Early life

Frank Rodimer was born on October 25, 1927, in

Seton Hall Preparatory School, then attended St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland, and St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland.[1]

Priesthood

Rodimer was

Catholic University of America Press
.

In June 1954, Rodimer returned to New Jersey and was appointed assistant chancellor of the diocese and secretary of the diocesan Tribunal. During this time, he served as assistant pastor to St. Brendan's Parish in Clifton, New Jersey.[2]

Rodimer was appointed first diocesan director of sacred liturgy. He was named priest-secretary of Bishop

College of Consultors
. As priest-secretary, Rodimer was in Rome when Bishop Navagh died there in October 1965, and was responsible for returning to New Jersey with the body of the bishop for burial services.

Under his predecessor Bishop Lawrence B. Casey, Rodimer served as administrator of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in

diocesan administrator
by the College of Consultors upon Casey's death in June 1977.

Bishop of Paterson

On December 5, 1977,

Peter Poreku Dery
serving as co-consecrators.

As bishop, Rodimer wrote a weekly column for the diocesan newspaper, The Beacon. He also established a $7 million diocesan endowment to support Catholic schools, parishes and other diocesan ministries through fund raising. With corporate leaders, Rodimer established the Tri-County Scholarship fund to provide scholarships to needy students attending Catholic schools.[2] During his tenure, Rodimer made public his opposition to capital punishment and to permanent replacements for striking workers.[3]

Although he once declared, "I fear for a society which deplores but does little or nothing to address the horrible daily realities which many of our children face",

sexual abuse.[4]

Retirement and legacy

Rodimer retired as Bishop on June 1, 2004, after twenty-six years of service. A 2020 report revealed that a Diocese of Paterson priest had informed Rodimer in the late 1980s of allegations that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had sexually abused boys at his beach house and that Rodimer had responded that he would contact U.S. representatives of the Vatican.[5]

Frank Rodimer died on December 6, 2018, at his residence in St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly in Totowa, New Jersey, aged 91.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Retired Bishop Rodimer dies; spent a lifetime of ministry in home diocese". National Catholic Reporter. 10 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Bishop Frank J. Rodimer, JCD, DD", Diocese of Paterson
  3. ^ a b The Catholic Advocate. Bishop Serratelli to be seventh head of Paterson Diocese Archived 2012-09-08 at archive.today June 16, 2004
  4. ^ Bishop Accountability. Catholic Bishops and Sex Abuse
  5. ^ "North Jersey Media Group".
  6. ^ "Bishop Frank J. Rodimer, JCD, DD". Diocese of Paterson. Retrieved 9 December 2018.

External links

Episcopal succession

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Bishop of Paterson
February 28, 1978 – June 1, 2004
Succeeded by
Arthur J. Serratelli