‘Always a Priest First’

PATERSON  Bishop Serratelli led the Paterson Diocese in mourning the loss of Bishop Emeritus Frank J. Rodimer, the sixth bishop of Paterson, who died on Dec. 6 at St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly in Totowa at 91 — in words of praise for its “local son,” who dedicated his 67 years as a priest and 26 years as bishop in loving service to the Diocese, where he was born, was raised, lived his entire life and was called home to God.

Since his passing, people in the Diocese and beyond have been remembering Bishop Rodimer fondly for his love and commitment to God, to the priesthood and to the faithful of Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties — and for his heart that truly belonged to the Paterson Diocese. Whether it was the unseen migrant, young people in the inner city or an ailing elder priest, the Bishop Emeritus showed great care and love to his flock as many reflected on his life and legacy to the Paterson Diocese.

On the occasion of his 50th anniversary to the priesthood in 2001, Bishop Rodimer said, “I could write not just a column but a book about the bishops, priests, religious, laymen and women who have come into my life in the course of my 50 years as a priest. Maybe I will, or maybe I’ll have a chance to acknowledge them in some other way. In any event, their names are engraved in my heart. They are the 24-carat gold in my Golden Jubilee.”

In his statement, Bishop Serratelli declared, “With a sense of loss, we give Bishop Rodimer back to God.”

“A dedicated leader, a man with a good pastoral sense and zeal for all God’s people, he served the Diocese of Paterson as priest and then bishop,” Bishop Serratelli said of his predecessor. “We are grateful for his life of continued service even after his retirement from administration. He has left us the rich legacy of how to live and how to die. May God grant him the reward of his labors,” he said.

Other prelates from around New Jersey also expressed their sadness about Bishop Rodimer’s passing. Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of the Newark Archdiocese, wrote in a Dec. 7 letter to his priests that despite Bishop Rodimer’s ailments, “he continued to pray for the people he once led as Shepherd.” The cardinal asked his priests to “remember Bishop Frank Rodimer in the General Intercessions at Mass this weekend, and pray for the repose of his soul.”

Likewise, Bishop David M. O’Connell of the Trenton Diocese expressed “sadness” over Bishop Rodimer’s passing but also “our joyful gratitude for his many years of priestly ministry in the Church” on behalf of his diocese’s clergy, religious and faithful. “May God continue to bless the Diocese of Paterson and may Bishop Rodimer rest in the Lord’s peace,” Bishop O’Connell said.

Also saddened by the news, Bishop James Checchio of the Metuchen Diocese stated that Bishop Rodimer’s “long service to the Diocese of Paterson as her first native bishop, and his goodness to the newly formed Diocese of Metuchen, during his early years of episcopal ministry, is a testimony to his dedication to the Church and beloved people of Northern New Jersey.”

“It is appropriate that, in the midst of this Advent season, we recall his motto, ‘Maranatha’ — ‘Come, Lord Jesus!,’ and pray that the Lord for whom he longed is now the One Whom he encounters face to face,” said Bishop Checchio, who extended his prayers to the family of Bishop Rodimer, Bishop Serratelli and the people, clergy, religious, and seminarians of the Diocese. “May the soul of Bishop Rodimer, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace,” the bishop said.


Loud and clear

Even during the last year of his life at St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly in Totowa, operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, Bishop Rodimer showed great interest in the lives of his fellow residents at the home. Little Sister of the Poor Mary Thomas, superior, said, “He always talked to everyone in the dining room. He often stopped at each of the tables to greet the people and have conversations with them.”

Every day, Bishop Rodimer would concelebrate daily Mass at St. Joseph’s. “Still without a microphone, you could hear him loud and clear and with conviction when he would read his part during the Eucharistic prayer,” said Sister Mary.

During his final day of his life, Sister Mary recalls taking care of him that morning and said, “Bishop Rodimer was still very alert and he greeted me, ‘Good morning, good mother’ as he would call me. I remember I shaved his face and he thanked me for doing that. I had no thought at all that would be his last day on earth but we felt so privileged for being able to take care of him.”

The care the Little Sisters gave to Bishop Rodimer is the care Msgr. John Hart, pastor of Assumption Parish in Morristown, remembers witnessing Bishop Rodimer give to ailing priests and others who were sick decades before when he served the Bishop Emeritus as his priest-secretary and later chancellor.


What it means to be a priest

“He gave me a great example of what it means to be a priest. He was a true servant of God’s people,” said Msgr. Hart. “I was blessed many times to assist him when he would visit the sick. He showed great empathy to those who were ill and the suffering.” Even during difficult times in his own life, Msgr. Hart remembers, when his father passed away, Bishop Rodimer’s care and concern was at the forefront. “It’s one of my fondest memories of him. He showed my family care when my father passed away in 1992. He had a big heart of gold.”

Msgr. Mark Condon, pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Angels Parish in Little Falls, who also served as Bishop Rodimer’s priest-secretary, said, “He taught me how to be a pastor just from observing him. He was a wonderful bishop, a wonderful man. But I would also say he was a wonderful priest and he was always a priest first. He had the gift of knowing how to be present in the people’s joys and in their sorrows.” Msgr. Condon also serves as diocesan director of worship.

Bishop Rodimer accepted Msgr. Condon to be a seminarian for the Paterson Diocese. “The first time I met him, I was 16 years old. I was attending my cousin’s Confirmation and I told Bishop Rodimer I wanted to be a priest. A few years later, I entered the seminary and he later ordained me to the priesthood.”

Serving him in a different capacity was Kit Springer, Bishop Rodimer’s executive assistant at the Diocesan Center, where she worked from 1987 to 2002. She said, “He was a joy to work for and it was the highlight of my working career.”

To Springer, Bishop Rodimer’s passing is like losing a member of her own family. He officiated the weddings of her two children. She and her husband also still received a birthday card from him every year. “He was really good at sending notes and cards. A skill he had that many people may not know about was his talent in calligraphy,” said Springer.

Before becoming the sixth bishop of the Paterson Diocese, Bishop Rodimer served as pastor of St. Paul Parish in Clifton for 10 years until his appointment. He was present to celebrate the parish’s 100th anniversary in 2014. Father Leonardo Jaramillo, current pastor of St. Paul’s, said, “He always loved this parish and he always told me that I’m taking good care of the parish following his footsteps in helping people get closer to God. He would say, ‘I’m very proud that you are pastor here.’ Because of that, I felt like he was a grandfather and I didn’t want to disappoint him.”


Dedicated to young people

One of the highlights of Bishop Rodimer’s ministry to young people came with the creation of the Tri-County Scholarship Fund and supporting youth ministries around the Diocese. Bishop Rodimer co-founded the Tri-County Scholarship Fund with his long-time friend, Ed Hennessey, to provide scholarships for the poorest of New Jersey’s inner-city children to Catholic schools in Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties.

Hennessey, retired CEO of Allied Signal who turned 90 last spring, said, “I have been friends with Bishop Rodimer for the past 40 years, since he asked me to join him in creating a scholarship fund for inner-city students in the Diocese of Paterson. He had a great passion for helping these needy children, and thought we could do that by giving them an alternative to the inner-city public schools. Tri-County Scholarship Fund became my number-one charity because of Bishop Rodimer.”

Prudence Pigott, president of Tri-County Scholarship Fund said, “Bishop Rodimer was a dedicated advocate for the financially disadvantaged students of the Diocese. Because of his vision, and that of his Tri-County Scholarship Fund cofounder, Ed Hennessy, since 1981, more than 31,000 scholarships have been awarded to deserving children whose lives have been changed by the chance to attend better, safer, values-based schools.”

Phil Russo, who served as executive director for the Office of Evangelization, then known as the Office of Parish Life, said, “He was extremely supportive in the Diocese’s work with youth ministry. He went around each of the deaneries and had dinner and discussions with representatives in that deanery. He would celebrate the closing liturgy for the Christian Leadership Experience for young people that the Diocese hosted every year and he inaugurated the Diocese’s participation in World Youth Days with the Holy Father beginning in 1993, when World Youth Day was in Denver with St. Pope John Paul II. He traveled with the diocesan contingent and celebrated liturgies with the teens.”

Lori DiGaetano, who is a longtime youth minister at St. Anthony Parish in Passaic, attended World Youth Day in Denver and said, “He was very present to the young people. I remember we did this Q. and A. with him where the teens could ask him questions. He was very open and easy to talk to. He always showed concern and was very interested with what was happening in the city parishes.”


Caring for those less fortunate

Bishop Rodimer had special concern for the poor and those on the peripheries of society, remembered Joseph Duffy, who retired as president of Catholic Charities in 2016 after 45 years of service to the Diocese. Bishop asked him to head Catholic Charities in 1997.

“I got the job of a lifetime because of Bishop Rodimer. As a local son, he knew the Diocese intimately. He knew where the ministries, the poverty and the politics where. He always believed that Catholic Charities was important,” said Duffy, adding that the many Catholic Charities agencies came together into a single organization under his leadership. “Bishop Rodimer realized the importance of collaboration and cooperation. He was so supportive of our care for the poor. Catholic Charities grew [during his tenure as bishop],” he said.

Bishop Rodimer established the Migrant Ministry in the Paterson Diocese. Trinitarian Father Dennis Berry, the first director of this new ministry, said, “The bishop opened the door for that. He was totally concerned about all members of his Diocese including those who were immigrants or refugees. At the time, many of them lived in motels with ten in a room. As a result of the ministry, a number of churches opened their doors to reach out to those that did not know where to go. He was truly a shepherd to God’s people.”

Trinitarian Father Peter Krebs, who served as director for the Shrine of St. Joseph in Stirling, said, “I was always touched at how pastoral he was. Over the years, we’ve had many conversations about the spiritual journey. I was humbled he was interested in my insights and I was always interested in his.”


Encyclopedic knowledge of the Diocese

Among those from the Diocese fondly remembering Bishop Rodimer was Msgr. Raymond Kupke, diocesan archivist and pastor of St. Anthony Parish, Hawthorne, who called him the “institutional memory of the Diocese.” The Bishop spent his entire life in Paterson; knew all the bishops of Paterson that preceded him; knew all but 14 of the priests who served he Diocese; and had the distinction of having been the only local priest who had been elevated to bishop of the Diocese, Msgr. Kupke said.

“The bishop’s knowledge of the Diocese was exhaustive,” said Msgr. Kupke, who noted that Bishop Rodimer only had left the Church of Paterson to study in Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Msgr. Kupke resided with Bishop Rodimer when he served as diocesan vice chancellor and the Bishop’s priest-secretary from 1979 to 1981. “The Bishop loved and was proud of the Diocese. He could remember details about his long service to the Diocese. He had a physical connection from the early days of the Diocese to the modern day,” the priest said.

Msgr. Kupke called Bishop Rodimer “sharp and brilliant” and remembered that he would get perturbed if he could not finish the New York Times crossword puzzle every morning, sometimes resorting to asking him or other priest for answers.

“The Bishop was prayerful, intelligent, capable and had gravitas — all qualities needed to be bishop,” Msgr. Kupke said. “He required input from the people, who worked with him. He was a strong administrator, who had moments of brilliance with ideas for initiatives that would send the Diocese in a new direction. Bishop Rodimer also had a strong work ethic. He would visit each parish in the Diocese once a year and be part of the life of those parishes,” he said.


‘Experience and Perspective’

Early on, Bishop Rodimer “gained experience and perspective,” while working for Bishop James Navagh, the fourth bishop of Paterson. In the 1960s, Bishop Navagh took him to the meetings of the Second Vatican Council in Rome, and inspired him to found parishes for smaller faith communities. Among those smaller parishes that Bishop Rodimer founded were St. Ann, Parsippany, and St. Matthew the Apostle and Resurrection, both in Randolph, according to Msgr. Kupke.

Bishop Rodimer’s priest-secretary for the past six years, Father Richard Bay, pastor of St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Green Pond, called the Bishop Emeritus “a great mentor and friend and a true pastor.”

One of Bishop Rodimer’s longtime friends, Msgr. George Hundt, pastor of St. Vincent Martyr Parish, Madison, was ordained a priest by the bishop in 1981 and served him in many diocesan capacities, including as vice chancellor, his priest­secretary and director of Clergy Personnel. Msgr. Hundt will be a homilist at Bishop Rodimer’s Mass of Christian Burial this Saturday, Dec. 15 at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral.

“We shared many wonderful times together. We had many shared interests, including faith, love of the Lord and love of the priesthood,” Msgr. Hundt said. “Bishop Rodimer was an incredible mentor, demonstrating what it meant to be a dedicated priest in his work — speaking about Christ and entering fully into the gift of the priesthood. He was really about friend­ship. He had a friendship with Christ and invited people to have a friendship with him,” he said.

Patricia Bartle, Ph.D., who served as diocesan Director of the Spirituality and Worship Office for seven years with Bishop Rodimer, remembered that he took great interest in liturgy.

“Bishop Rodimer wanted people to realize that they were there at Mass for prayer, not to be social. He was concerned about how the music, art and prayers reflected that,” said Bartle, who also reviewed documents by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to alert the bishop to any changes in the liturgy.

A resident of St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly for the past nine months, Bartle would see Bishop Rodimer in the dining room every day and at Mass in the chapel, where he would concelebrate Mass.

“When I got to St. Joseph’s, I would say to Bishop Rodimer, ‘Don’t you leave me.’ Then one day recently, he told me, ‘I’m ready to go to the Lord, but are you ready for me to go?’ ” said Bartle, startled by the question, because she did not want to stand in God’s way. “The Bishop was always thinking about other people. We had such good times together. I will miss him very much,” she said.