St. Louis native, auxiliary bishop named third archbishop of Mobile, bringing a heart for mercy and service to the peripheries
Pope Leo XIV has appointed St. Louis Auxiliary Bishop Mark S. Rivituso as the 10th bishop and third archbishop of Mobile, Alabama.
Archbishop-elect Rivituso succeeds Archbishop Thomas Rodi, who submitted his letter of resignation in March 2024 at the age of 75, the age at which bishops are required by canon law to submit their retirement to the pope. He has served the archdiocese since 2008.
The appointment and resignation were announced in Washington on July 1 by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Archbishop-elect Rivituso, 63, will shepherd an archdiocese with about 107,000 Catholics in 83 parishes and parish missions along the lower 28 counties of the state of Alabama.
As a native St. Louisan who has spent the majority of his priesthood here, he immediately thought of how much the Church in the Archdiocese of St. Louis has been like family to him.
The people of St. Louis have helped him to “answer the call of Christ in my own life and to grow in greater holiness,” Archbishop-elect Rivituso said. “I’ve been so blessed by His disciples and so many people of goodwill who have helped me to grow in my own life of faith and also a life of trusting in the Lord that He will give me what I need to be (as) that shepherd for others.”
In a letter to clergy, Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski described Archbishop-elect Rivituso’s ministry as having a “positive effect on so many lives, and his outreach to those on the peripheries has truly brought the presence of Christ to those who are most in need.”
“While I personally will miss the collaboration and support that I have felt from Archbishop-elect Rivituso since my arrival here and know that you will too, it is a blessing that the Holy Father has recognized his gifts and talents for service to the Church of Mobile, Alabama,” Archbishop Rozanski said.
Archbishop-elect Rivituso has served as an auxiliary bishop for St. Louis since the late Pope Francis appointed him to the role in 2017. Prior to that, he served as vicar general for the archdiocese, as well as a parish priest and a canon lawyer with the archdiocese’s Metropolitan Tribunal.
He was born in St. Louis on Sept. 20, 1961, the sixth of eight children to August (Gus) and Rosemary Rivituso. He was baptized in 1961 at St. Wenceslaus Parish in south St. Louis and attended St. Wenceslaus School, which later became Notre Dame Elementary School. His father worked three jobs — as a barber, providing a television service at the former Missouri Pacific Hospital and as a bottler for Anheuser-Busch Brewery — to support the family, who lived in a two-family flat in south St. Louis.
As a student at St. Mary’s High School, Bishop-elect Rivituso prayed daily before the Blessed Sacrament in the school chapel, which solidified his call to the priesthood. He knew he wanted to become a diocesan priest, so he could serve in St. Louis. His parents, who were supportive of his vocation, taught him the value of family and the importance of being generous of heart, even when they didn’t have much growing up. The family attended Holy Hours and Perpetual Help devotions, and toured churches on Holy Thursdays to visit the Blessed Sacrament.
Archbishop-elect Rivituso attended Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary. He also earned a master’s degree and a licentiate in canon and civil law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese at the St. Louis Cathedral (now Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis) by the late Archbishop John L. May in 1988. (Of note: Archbishop May served as bishop of Mobile prior to his appointment in St. Louis.) Pope Benedict XVI named him a monsignor in 2005.
He served as a confessor for the Little Sisters of the Poor and was a chaplain for the Veterans Administration in St. Louis. He has been long involved in prison ministry, including to those on Missouri’s death row, and in advocacy to end the death penalty in the state of Missouri.
Being involved in the Church’s works of mercy, especially in those places along the peripheries, has been an important part of his service to the Church, which he hopes to continue in Mobile, he said.
“The late Pope Francis really taught me about making sure that we’re mindful of those who are on the peripheries,” he said. “I feel like that’s always something that’s going to be important in my heart and ministry. The Church is so blessed to be involved in the works of compassion, and I think that’s where we truly live what Jesus has called us to do about living his works of mercy.”
Archbishop-elect Rivituso also said he was surprised to move from the role of an auxiliary bishop to a metropolitan archbishop with oversight of an ecclesiastical province. The Province of Mobile includes the dioceses of Biloxi and Jackson, Mississippi, and the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama.
“I’ve been very blessed that I’ve had wonderful archbishops who gave me good examples and were good mentors, and I think that will help me,” Archbishop-elect Rivituso said. “I did tell Archbishop Rozanski and Archbishop (Robert J.) Carlson, that I will have them in my contact list, so they haven’t heard the last from me.”
He also said he is mindful of the next auxiliary bishop to be appointed for St. Louis, whenever that happens. “I want to make sure that he has my prayers, whoever that might be,” he said.
At a July 1 press conference in Mobile, Archbishop Rodi, who has served the archdiocese for 17 years, gave thanks to Pope Leo for the appointment and to the Holy Spirit for guiding the selection process. He also thanked Archbishop Rozanski and the people of St. Louis “for their gift of our new archbishop. Their loss is our gain.”
Archbishop-elect Rivituso said he’s already been won over by the area’s southern charm and hospitality. While en route from the airport in Pensacola, Florida, he saw a sign that said, “sweet home Alabama.”
“I do feel at home,” he said.
He pledged to keep the people of the archdiocese in his daily prayers and to “labor with the shepherding love of Jesus for all of you, because I want to love you as Christ loves, and I want to do what I can to lift each other up so we live out the goodness of our life…” He also asked for the prayers of the people as he starts his ministry.
“Every time I have an opportunity to truly serve others, that’s always a blessing,” he said. “This is a wonderful opportunity with the Catholic faith community and other partners of good will that I hope to work together for the greater good of others” especially the poor, marginalized, people who are suffering and in need and those on the peripheries.
The installation Mass is expected to be in about two months, although no date or location has been finalized.
Archbishop-elect Rivituso biography
Photo copyright St. Louis Review | Archdiocese of St. Louis
Bishop Mark S. Rivituso was born in St. Louis on Sept. 20, 1961, the sixth of eight children to August (Gus) and Rosemary Rivituso. He was baptized in 1961 at St. Wenceslaus Parish in south St. Louis and attended St. Wenceslaus School, which later became Notre Dame Elementary School. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s High School.
Bishop Rivituso attended Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary. He earned a master’s degree and a licentiate in canon and civil law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese at the St. Louis Cathedral (now Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis) by Archbishop John L. May in 1988. Pope Benedict XVI named him a monsignor in 2005.
He was associate pastor of St. Ambrose in south St. Louis (1988-90), part-time associate pastor of Immaculate Conception in Dardenne Prairie and on the faculty of St. Dominic High School (1990-93), part-time associate pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland in south St. Louis and staff member of the archdiocesan Metropolitan Tribunal (1993-94).
After returning from studies in Canada in the mid-1990s, he was appointed to the Metropolitan Tribunal staff (1993-94, 1996-2004) and named part-time associate pastor at St. Jerome in Bissell Hills (1996-2004). He also had assignments as acting associate master of ceremonies to the archbishop (1997-2008), in residence at St. Mary Magdalen in south St. Louis (1997-2004) and St. Gabriel the Archangel in south St. Louis (2004-08), adjunct judicial vicar of the Tribunal of Second Instance of the Province of St. Louis (2004-05), judicial vicar of the Tribunal of Second Instance (2005-11) and pastor of Cure of Ars (2008-13).
In 2011, he was named vicar general for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, a role in which he aided the archbishop in the administration of the archdiocese and lived at Annunciation Parish in Webster Groves. Pope Francis appointed him as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 2017. He was ordained bishop on May 2, 2017. Then-Archbishop Robert J. Carlson was the principal consecrator, with Auxiliary Bishop emeritus Robert J. Hermann and Bishop Edward M. Rice of Springfield-Cape Girardeau as co-consecrators.
History of the Archdiocese of Mobile
The first parish in Mobile was founded on July 20, 1703. The Archdiocese of Mobile was established in 1825 as the Vicariate-Apostolic of Alabama and the Floridas and became the Diocese of Mobile in 1829. The name was changed to the Diocese of Mobile-Birmingham on July 9, 1954, and was redesignated on June 28, 1969. It was established as the Archdiocese of Mobile on Nov. 16, 1980.
Of note: Archbishop John L. May (who ordained Archbishop-elect Rivituso to the priesthood) served as bishop of Mobile from 1969-1980 before he was appointed as Archbishop of St. Louis in January of 1980. Mobile’s first bishop, Bishop Michael Portier, was ordained to the priesthood in St. Louis in 1818 for the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas.
Archdiocese of Mobile at a glance
- Land mass (in miles): 22,969
- Catholic population: 107,870
- Number of parishes: 76
- Number of mission parishes: 7
- Diocesan priests: 81
- External diocesan priests: 7
- Religious order priests: 21
- Permanent deacons: 65
- Religious order brothers: 3
- Religious order sisters: 61
- Educational institutions
- Colleges: 1
- High schools: 3
- Elementary parochial schools: 14
- Private schools: 2
- Total number of students: 8,551
- Charitable and social institutions
- Homes for the aged: 1
- Residential care of the disabled: 1
- Special centers for social services: 9
- The Province of Mobile includes the dioceses of Biloxi and Jackson, Mississippi, and the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama.
