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Retired Bishop Frank J. Rodimer of Paterson, N.J., died Dec. 6 at St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly in Totowa, N.J. He was 91.
When Bishop Rodimer became the sixth bishop of the diocese Feb. 28, 1978, he had the unique distinction of being installed as the only priest of the Paterson Diocese to have been raised to the episcopacy. He retired in 2004.
His Funeral Mass was celebrated Dec. 15 at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Paterson.
His ministry in the Paterson Diocese began May 19, 1951, when he was ordained to the priesthood.
He served as parochial vicar of parishes in Clifton and Sparta, and was a pastor in Clifton for 10 years. He served as assistant chancellor and secretary of the tribunal. He was the first diocesan director of sacred liturgy.
He was secretary for Paterson Bishop James Navagh and attended the Second Vatican Council with him in 1963. He was appointed diocesan chancellor in 1964. In 1966, he was appointed secretary of the diocesan board of consultors.
As bishop, he led the diocese for 26 years until his retirement in May 2004. He established 12 parishes, and ordained 91 priests and 179 permanent deacons.
In 1999, he supported a bill introduced in the state Legislature to abolish capital punishment in New Jersey. “Precisely because we love and cherish the gift of life, we are challenged to oppose the death penalty,” Bishop Rodimer said.
His 1992 pastoral letter, “Put Our Children First,” listed a comprehensive plan Catholics can undertake on behalf of children.
Born in Rockaway, N.J., he attended Seton Hall Prep School in South Orange and St. Charles College in Catonsville, Md., which was a minor seminary.
He went St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, Immaculate Conception Seminary in New Jersey and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a licentiate in sacred theology. He returned to the university after his ordination for graduate studies. He also earned a doctorate in canon law.
Bishop Rodimer was a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy. He served on the bishops’ Administrative Committee and he was chairman of the Committee for the American College at Louvain, Belgium.—CNS
