Person:William Roach (15)

ROACH, William Joseph, general councillor, brother of Father Thomas Roach, was born in the rural parish of Brechin, Ontario, on January 1, 1875, the son of Thomas Roach and Cecilia McGrath. He died at Toronto, Ontario, on February 12, 1961.

Father William Roach began his education in a local school and when his family moved to Toronto he attended St. Michael's College, 1888-96. After graduating with a B .A. from the University of Toronto he entered St. Basil's Novitiate in Toronto and was professed on September 29, 1897. His theological studies were made at St. Basil's Seminary in Toronto and Assumption College in Windsor, Ontario. He was ordained priest on July 28, 1901.

Teaching at Assumption College was Father Roach's first appointment after ordination. In 1902 he was sent to the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., for graduate studies. He returned to Assumption College in 1904 and taught there until 1911 when he was appointed superior of St. Thomas College in Chatham, New Brunswick. In 1919 he was made Master of Scholastics at St. Basil's Scholasticate in Windsor. Six years later he was appointed to St. Michael's College. He was stationed at the Curial House, 1926-28, and at St. Michael's College, 1928-32. In 1932 he was named pastor of St. Mary's of the Assumption Parish in Owen Sound, Ontario, and in 1934 was transferred to Holy Rosary Parish in Toronto. Father Roach moved to Assumption College in 1936 and taught there until 1942 when he was appointed spiritual director at St. Basil's Seminary. He died in 1961 and was buried in the Basilian plot, Holy Cross, Cemetery, Thornhill, Ontario.

1. ↑ They came to Mara: Pioneers of Mara Township, circa 1829-1900. (Brechin, Ontario: Corporation of the Township of Mara (Ontario), 1993)
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