Pat (Rodgers) Deacon Frisina

Deacon Pat (Rodgers) Frisina, 67, died on Nov. 21 in San Antonio. Deacon Rodgers served nearly two decades as the communications director of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and executive director of Catholic Television of San Antonio (CTSA-15) until his retirement in June 2015.

He continued to serve in diaconal ministry at St. Brigid Catholic Church until his death. He fell naturally into radio broadcasting as a teenager in the small town of Meadville, Penn., and over the years this career took him — as successive offers came — to jobs elsewhere in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia, as well as the opportunity in the early '70s to start a Catholic television ministry in Alaska.

His on-the-air name became so well-known he went by it throughout his career rather than returning to his given surname, Frisina.

He was working in Atlanta when he received a call from the general manager of WOAI Radio in San Antonio, asking if he'd be interested in interviewing for the job of program director there. Later, he also became operations manager there, with the exception of a couple of years with WTMJ in Milwaukee. Previously active in church ministry, Deacon Rodgers entered the diaconate program in San Antonio in the mid-'90s and in 1997 went to work for CTSA-15 as executive director, briefly drawn away to a new job opportunity at KTSA Radio, another local broadcasting giant.

Ordained a deacon in 1999, he felt a calling to immerse himself in full-time work for the church and accepted a position working for the archdiocese on the Archbishop's Appeal in the Development Office. During the tenure of Archbishop José H. Gomez, the archbishop establishing a Department of Communications which included CTSA, Today's Catholic newspaper and the Internet, and appointed Rodgers to lead it as Communications Director.

"My goal at that time," he explained in an interview last year, "was to make sure the church was a reliable source of information about all we were responsible for as a church. I wanted the media to feel they could contact me 24/7, that I would help them do their job, help them by providing them with either information or people who had the information, who could speak responsibly and fully for whatever their story was that they were working on." He held that position until his retirement last summer.

Deacon Rodgers then worked with young people in post-confirmation classes and with the RCIA program – which he once directed -- in his parish, St. Brigid's, and was able to spend more time with his wife, children, and grandchildren.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years Kristine Frisina; their daughters Noelle Owens, Jennifer Tiller, Amy McKosky, and Angela Frisina, (daughter Toni Michelle Frisina passed away in 2011); and several grandchildren.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, November 27, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at St. Brigid Catholic Church at 6907 Kitchener.

ROSARY

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2016

7:00 PM

ST. BRIGID CATHOLIC CHURCH

6907 KITCHENER

MASS

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2016

10:00 AM

ST. BRIGID CATHOLIC CHURCH

6907 KITCHENER

Interment will take place at Holy Cross Cemetery at a later date.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Elf Louise Christmas Project, P.O. Box 39107, San Antonio, TX 78218.