“My father was a cabinet-maker, a master craftsman” with his shop and showroom next to the family home in Celaya, said Bishop Plácido Rodríguez, CMF .”I learned a lot from (him). (He was) a quietly courageous man who was a brilliant strategist -- not only in business, but in ways he helped the church during the religious persecution in Mexico (1921-1940).”

     Eutemio Rodriguez Cárdenas – who was acquainted with Blessed Miguel Pro, a priest martyred during the persecution and beatified by Pope John Paul II – was a leader in the Guanajuato underground rescue movement formed to same the lives of priests during the murderous anti-Catholic rampage.

     “He used to hide the priests (and) he openly defended the church’s rights at a time when it was dangerous to be involved,” said Bishop Rodríguez. “There was even an order, allegedly issued by the President, to have my father assassinated.”

     While the bishop’s father was highly political, an architect of movements that supported laborers’ rights as well as those advocating religious freedom, Maria Concepción Rosiles de Rodriguez lived out her vocation at home, as a homemaker, nurturing her family and serving as the unifying force for her household.

     “My mother was deeply religious, a holy woman,” said Bishop Rodríguez. “I don’t know how she put up with all the kids. She was patient, charitable, loving, and hardworking, She always stayed up at night until all of us were home. My father was the leader, but (my mother taught us) that a loving presence and prayerfulness are the real bonds of a family.”

     The persecution had ended by the time Plácido was born on October 11, 1940, the 11th of 14 children born to Eutemio and Maria Concepción Rodriguez. But the effects of its trauma lingered. Young Plácido attended Celaya’s Colegio Vasco de Quiroga, a Catholic elementary school, until January 13, 1953 when – in hopes of leaving the legacy of violent persecution behind them – his father and mother emigrated to Chicago with their six youngest children.

    “At age 12 my new environment was quite different and difficult,” said Bishop Rodríguez. had already graduated from grammar school in Mexico, but I continued my elementary education at Saint Francis Assisi Parish School on Chicago’s south side, graduating in 1955.”

     It was at Saint Francis that young Plácido became familiar with the Claretians, a Roman Catholic community of priests and brothers who staffed his parish in the predominately Mexican-American neighborhood.

     “By the time I arrived in Chicago one of my brothers was already studying theology. . . I knew I wanted to be a professional of some sort – whether a lawyer, an engineer, or a doctor – so I started to consider (them and) eliminate them . . . one by one.

     “I wanted to do something that would be a challenge, something I felt I was called to do. So I thought “I can be a priest; not everybody can be a priest.’ I really wanted to be able to make a difference with people. A doctor, he can heal the body, but the priest heals the soul for all eternity.

     “That pretty much settled it in my mind. I thought the most effective career for me was the priesthood. I came to that conclusion at the end of seventh grade.

     “I told my mother (about the decision to join the Claretians) first and she was pleased. Then, I told my father. He said, ‘Well, son, if you go to the seminary. . . I want you to go for the right reasons, not because your friends are there or because the seminary has a swimming pool. A priest is a servant of God and of the people. His life at times can be hard because of the sacrifices he must make. If you really don’t want to be a priest, don’t go to the seminary. If you do, then go with my blessings.’”