MOBILE, ALABAMA — Archbishop Mark S. Rivituso said he will look to Christ with a collaborative shepherding spirit in service to others in his new archdiocese.
Archbishop Rivituso was installed as the 10th bishop and third archbishop of Mobile, Alabama, on Sept. 3 at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The nearly two-hour Mass, celebrated on the feast of St. Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church, included his predecessor, retired Archbishop Emeritus Thomas J. Rodi, Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, about 25 visiting bishops and archbishops, and priests and deacons from the Archdioceses of Mobile and St. Louis.
The congregation — including 650 in the cathedral and more than 700 watching a livestream from across Cathedral Square at the nearby Saenger Theatre — also included Archbishop Rivituso’s family and other friends from the two archdioceses.
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, read the apostolic letter (“papal bull”) from Pope Leo XIV, in which the pope officially released Archbishop Rivituso from his duties as auxiliary bishop of St. Louis and appointed him as shepherd of the Archdiocese of Mobile.
Cardinal Pierre then asked him if he accepts the responsibilities of serving the people of Mobile.
“With faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and with the love of God in my heart, I accept the pastoral care of the people of God in the Archdiocese of Mobile,” Archbishop Rivituso said. “I promise to serve faithfully the Church in this archdiocese, to preach the Gospel and celebrate the Eucharist.”
Archbishop Rivituso moved across the sanctuary and throughout the cathedral as he displayed the apostolic letter to the congregation. He was then escorted to the bishop’s chair, or cathedra, where the archbishop presides at Mass and other celebrations at the cathedral. It was in this gesture of being seated that Archbishop Rivituso took formal and canonical possession of the Archdiocese of Mobile.
His predecessor, Archbishop Rodi, presented him with a crozier, or pastoral staff, a symbol of his position as “shepherd” before the congregation gave him a hearty round of applause. The crozier belonged to Bishop Michael Portier, who was ordained in St. Louis in 1818 and became the first bishop of Mobile in 1829.
In the homily, Archbishop Rivituso said he was reminded of the words of Pope Leo XIV, who in his inauguration Mass in May said the universal Church must “look to Christ, come closer to Him.”
“We look to Christ, we focus upon Jesus Christ, we center our life upon Jesus so that we may indeed model Jesus Christ in our very life,” Archbishop Rivituso said.
The archbishop also said he was looking forward to serving alongside the people of the archdiocese to reach the poor, immigrants, imprisoned and those on death row, to foster racial harmony, and to reach those on the peripheries of society.
“We live in very challenging times,” he said. “I know many feel very disconnected from one another. We are ministers of hope, ministers fostering hope and we always foster hope by always fostering and living the beautiful mission of Jesus. As we are faithful to that mission by the grace of God, we bring hope to all humanity.”
After Mass, Archbishop Rivituso greeted about 650 students from Catholic schools across Mobile outside in Cathedral Square.
Archbishop Rozanski, who worked closely with Archbishop Rivituso in the past five years since his appointment to St. Louis, said he believes the new archbishop is well prepared for the responsibilities that lie ahead of him.
“He has an openness of heart to accept those responsibilities,” Archbishop Rozanski said. “I think that openness of heart, plus his identity with those who are on the margins, with those who are struggling, certainly will give him the heart of a wonderful archbishop of Mobile.”
In this age, the Church is in an “evangelization mode,” Archbishop Rozanski said. “Archbishop Rivituso has certainly picked up that spirit and reaches out to others. He has that great thought in mind of working with others for the common good.”
Archbishop Rivituso’s longtime friends Msgr. Kevin Callahan and Father William Thess described him as a “humble servant” who will be a great leader in Mobile.
Msgr. Callahan has known Archbishop Rivituso since their time at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in the 1980s. Father Thess met him when he was a student at the former St. Gregory Parish in St. Ann, with Archbishop Rivituso assigned there for his acolyte internship in the mid-1980s.
“My hope is that he will be that humble servant that he’s been modeling in St. Louis and will continue that here,” Father Thess, pastor of St. Simon in south St. Louis County, said.
Msgr. Callahan, a senior associate pastor at Seven Holy Founders in Affton, called upon his friend to continue to be a good priest, “because that’s what’s first. He’ll continue to be pastoral, as we all know, and that he will be himself. He has all the gifts and talents, and we know he’s going to use them. It’s just a blessing for this place to have him.”
Archbishop Rodi, who retired after 17 years overseeing the Archdiocese of Mobile, expressed his hope that Archbishop Rivituso will quickly come to love the people of Mobile and become a wonderful shepherd.
Only about 5% of the population within the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Mobile is Catholic, and through that, he said, the new archbishop will witness an intentionality of faith among the people here.
“In the Archdiocese of Mobile, where we are such a small percentage, people are Catholic because they want to be Catholic,” he said. “It is intentional. They take a pride in their Catholicism, and they are very open to evangelizing.”
