Deacon Mel Tardy earned a BA in Studio Art in 1986 and an MBA in International Finance in 1990 at the University of Notre Dame, where he currently serves as Academic Advisor and chaplain for the First Year of Studies.
 
Ordained a permanent deacon by Bishop Kevin Rhoades in May 2011, Tardy

• serves the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend at St. Augustine Parish in South Bend, Indiana
• as chair of the Black Catholic Advisory Board
• as a member of the Deacon Advisory Board
• serves as Youth Minister and RCIA director at St. Augustine Parish
• as Spiritual Advisor and Spirituality Committee chair for St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Joseph Valley
• as chair of the Catholic Identity Committee for the St. Joseph High School board of directors.

Additional boards include the John S. Marten Program in Homiletics & Liturgics at Notre Dame, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, the National Association of Black Catholic Deacons and the Inter-Denominational Ministerial Alliance of South Bend.  

Deacon Mel’s hobbies include playing trumpet and drawing portraits.  He and his wife Annie are the proud parents of three grown children.