This article is taken from The Lebanon Daily News

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades

Pope names Lebanon Catholic alum bishop

By BILL WARNER

Staff Writer

A native of Lebanon and a graduate of Lebanon Catholic High School has been named the ninth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg.

The Rev. Kevin C. Rhodes received the appointment from Pope John Paul II this week, The Catholic Witness, the diocesan newspaper, announced this morning.

Rhodes, 46, grew up on Lebanon's northside, attended the former St. Mary's elementary school and Lebanon Catholic High School, from which he graduated in 1975.

At his alma mater this morning, the school was buzzing with the news of Rhodes' appointment.

"One of the sisters at St. Joan's convent (St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church in Hershey) called and told us this morning," said Monica Simmers, Lebanon Catholic's studies director and a classmate of Rhodes in the 1970s. "And when we heard it on TV, we knew it was a big deal. Everyone is so excited."

Gail Vojtko, who has been teaching at Lebanon Catholic since the early '70s, recalled Rhodes as an outstanding and hardworking student.

"I taught Kevin four years of German. He was one of my very favorite students," Vojtko said this morning. "When you're a teacher for as long as I am, these are the kinds of things that make it rewarding. Of course, you're happy when any kid has success. ... This is just a fantastic thing to happen."

Vojtko said friends and LC faculty members thought Rhodes was destined for major accomplishments.

"We always felt there were big things for Kevin," she said, "because once the diocese sends someone off to Rome (Rhodes studied there in the '80s), they've usually got plans for you. That's not the official diocese policy; that's just the opinion of the small folks, like us here."

Simmers also was impressed with Rhodes as a classmate.

"He was a good student. We were in a lot of honors classes together," she said. "He was hardworking. He is a really, really nice guy."

With Rhodes' appointment, two of the last three Harrisburg bishops hailed from Lebanon and attended LCHS. The Rev. William Keeler, currently the archbishop of Baltimore, is a Lebanon native who served as Harrisburg's bishop from 1983 to 1989.

In fact, it was Keeler who ordained Rhodes as a priest in 1983 at the home church for both men, St. Mary's on Eighth Street in Lebanon.

The Harrisburg Diocese has been without a bishop since March 5, when the Rev. Nicholas Dattilo died.

Since 1995, Rhodes has been on the faculty at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, northern Maryland. In 1997, he was promoted to rector of the seminary and vice president of Mount St. Mary's University, the positions he held at the time of this week's appointment.

From the time he was ordained in 1983 until 1995, Rhodes served the diocese in several capacities.

His first assignment was as a parochial vicar at St. Patrick's Parish in York from 1983 to 1985. Rhodes, who speaks Spanish, helped with Spanish-speaking apostolates at Cristo Salvador Parish in York and at Cristo Rey Mission in Bendersville during his two years in York. Rhodes also speaks Italian and Latin.

From 1985 to 1988, he was overseas in Rome, studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He graduated magna cum laude with a specialization of dogmatic theology and summa cum laude in Latin.

He returned to the Harrisburg Diocese in 1988 and, for the next two years, served as the director of the Spanish Apostolate in Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties. During that time, he was also the diocese's assistant chancellor.

His next assignment brought him back to Lebanon County as administrator pro-tem of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.

In 1990, he was named pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Harrisburg, which he served until 1995.

He attended Mount St. Mary's College between 1975 and 1977 and then St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1979.

The Harrisburg Diocese comprises 15 counties in central Pennsylvania: Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union and York.

Rhodes is the son of Charles Rhodes of Lebanon and the late Mary Rhodes. He has a brother, Charles, who lives New Hampshire and a sister, Robin McCracken, who lives in Lancaster County.