San Diego Police Chaplain, Henry Rodriguez, Dies at 61

The Rev. Henry Rodriguez left his unwell bed and hurried to a criminal offense scene. Then he drove to Mercy medical institution. Youngsters he changed into combating pneumonia, Rodriguez wasn't there for his own health. He become there as a San Diego Police department chaplain, comforting the household of slain Officer Jonathan De Guzman.

"He was within the sanatorium room," referred to Sgt. Edward Zwibel, one in every of Rodriguez's closest chums, "attending to the needs of others besides the fact that he become very ill." Rodriguez, 61, died Thursday — the equal day as De Guzman's funeral Mass. When news of the priest's loss of life unfold through the church, the law enforcement officials absorbed yet a further blow. "There became an audible sigh," Zwibel observed.

A San Diego native, Rodriguez became the longtime pastor at St. Jude Shrine of the West. He also served as a chaplain to the police, Scripps Mercy hospital and San Diego Hospice. He relentlessly encouraged for the powerless — now and again disturbing bishops, mayors and police chiefs. Yet friends and colleagues insist that he built extra bridges than he burned.

"He changed into committed to the community and to the police," former Chief Jerry Sanders pointed out.
Rodriguez turned into born March 25, 1955, the 2nd of six toddlers. during Sunday Mass at St. Jude, the place he had served as an altar boy, Jennie Rodriguez remembered her son as an outstanding boy, wise and kind. But he had a tricky youth, dropping by the wayside of junior excessive college. Rodriguez spent just a few years on the streets before volunteering at Sharp Memorial medical institution.

"You support out the nurses, elevate sufferers, take them up to the X-ray department," observed Steve ideal, who met Rodriguez in 1973, when both were orderlies. "Henry in fact grew up at Sharp. He appreciated it and became really good at it." The nurses there encouraged Rodriguez to get a GED. When he did, they helped pay his faculty fees. After graduating from the tuition of San Diego with a bachelor's degree in sociology, he entered St. Francis Seminary and become ordained a priest in 1986.

After graduate experiences in Minnesota and Rome, he got here domestic to San Diego and St. Jude. Rodriguez also grew to be a pacesetter of the San Diego Organizing task, protesting plans to push a limited-access highway spur in the course of the surrounding neighborhood. At concerning the same time, he invited a young police captain to fulfill with residents. "Later, I referred to as these the 'SDOP drive classes,'" Sanders mentioned. "they had all of it orchestrated, a list of questions, people would line up and simply hammer away."

Come what may, the captain got during the meeting. "Boy," he recalled, "i used to be stumbling." afterward, the priest took him aside. "We si mply want your aid," he mentioned. Like Sanders, Rodriguez believed in group policing, seeing the cop on the beat as a neighborhood ally. And residents necessary allies. The priest's brother, Vincent, had been murdered in the enviornment in 1987. Parishioners advised their new priest that the streets around St. Jude had been primary for medication and prostitution.

At protests, some who marched with Rodriguez saw law enforcement officials because the enemy. He didn't. In 1989 the priest volunteered as a Police department chaplain, a place he would dangle to the conclusion of his existence. "He turned into a person who changed into very comfy representing his church, his group and the Police department," said Kevin Malone, government director of the San Diego Organizing challenge, "and preserving everyone equally liable."

Rodriguez remained as pastor at St. Jude unless 2006, then added hospice tasks to his record of ministries. "He definitely found great meaning in caring for the terminally sick," Zwibel referred to. On July 1, Rodriguez lower back to parish existence, becoming pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church within the Hillcrest regional. "He put every little thing into working with other individuals," observed former Police Chief William Lansdowne, "and took little or no time for himself."

As considered one of his final legit acts, Rodriguez — who remaining month gotten smaller whooping cough that led to pneumonia —  emailed the chaplains and officers concerned in De Guzman's funeral. He expressed pride within the community, appreciation for their difficult work and compassion. Many of the same individuals are actually preparing Rodriguez's functions. "they are pulling out the entire stops to make this a pleasant party for him," Zwibel mentioned. "He became big in their lifestyles." Rodriguez is survived with the aid of his mom, Jennie Rodriguez; his siblings, Jennie Rodriguez, Gloria Taylor, Linda Rodriguez and Jess Rodriguez; and 10 nieces and nephews.