The Very Reverend Robert E. “Bob” Brodie became Dean of the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul on February 1, 2006. Dean Brodie is a member of the Diocesan Council and a member of the Diocesan Ecclesiastical Trial Court. After graduation from college he served as an Intelligence Officer. He attended the School of Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. He was ordained to the Diaconate on June 4, 1978 and to the Priesthood on December 17, 1978, by the Right Reverend James L. Duncan of the Diocese of Southeast Florida. He is a Miami, Florida native and a cradle Episcopalian, his family going back several generations in the Church of England in service to the Crown. Dean Brodie was in the parish ministry for the first fifteen years of his ordained life having served as Rector of two parishes in Tennessee where he was also very active in Diocesan matters having been a member of the first Standing Committee of the New Diocese of East Tennessee, chairman of ten different committees and divisions in the dioceses. He was then called to be the Canon to the Ordinary for Bishop Robert Tharp in the Diocese of East Tennessee where he served for two and a half years. Brodie was Chief Operational Officer of the Bishop and Council. He was then called to be the Canon for Ministry in the Diocese of Tennessee (Nashville) under Bishop Bertram Hurlong. This was an endowed pilot program that lasted for ten years and was a study that dealt with congregational life and conflict resolution, Brodie was the chief troubleshooter for the dioceses.

He is a graduate of the University of Miami, B.A., M.A.; the University of the South, M.Div.; University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology; and did his Doctor of Ministry in the then joint program of Vanderbilt University and the University of the South. He has a post-graduate Certificate of Advanced Specialization in Spiritual Direction from Saint Michael’s College (R.C.) in Winooski, Vermont. He was awarded a Doctor of Canon Law (Honoris Causa) for his work for the Roman Catholic Church in comparing the Episcopal Church USA Canon Law with the Roman Catholic USA edition of the Code of Canon Law in ecclesiastical discipline for sexual misconduct by clergy. He is a member of the Diocesan Ecclesiastical Trial Court and a member of the Province V Provincial Appellate Court. None of the Provincial Courts have met since 1976. The Province V Court recently met and issued an opinion, a part of which was written by Brodie, which will set precedents for future Title IV disciplinary trials regarding Conduct Unbecoming a Priest.

He is a Chaplain of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and holds a Top-Secret security clearance. He has served as the Deputy Chief of Security for the General Convention since 1990. 2009 will be his seventh General Convention.

He has been married to Linda for over 25 years, and her son is Jon Meacham, the Editor of Newsweek Magazine. He is a licensed professional counselor who served as a Chaplain for the Tennessee Highway Patrol for twenty-five years.