[4] During his coadjutorship, he lived at Ashline House on the Kilrush Road in Ennis, which had been made available for him by the incumbent, Michael Fogarty, by means of an eviction.
In May 1956, two members of Jehovah's Witnesses were attacked in Doonass, near Clonlara, County Clare, which led to a district court case in Limerick at which local curate Fr.
[6][7] The presiding judge declared that the two Jehovah’s Witnesses had been "guilty of blasphemy", and that they had "come into this village [of Clonlara] and attack and outrage all that these simple Irishmen hold dear.
"[8] Rodgers was so outraged by the whole affair that he wrote to the then Taoiseach, John A. Costello, expressing his anger that the Attorney General could proceed with the case "against one of [his priests] for upholding and defending the fundamental truths of our treasured Catholic faith", given the "pernicious and blasphemous literature distributed and sold in [his] diocese" by the two members.
[9] Rodgers took a walk in the garden of his Westbourne residence in Ennis on the evening of 10 July 1966, but suffered a heart attack and was found dead the following morning.