Archbishop John R. Roach, who led the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for two decades, died Friday of heart failure. He was 81.
Roach graduated from the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity in 1946, and was ordained the same year. He worked as the parish priest of Saint Stephen, in Minneapolis, taught for a while and then became headmaster of Saint Thomas Academy.
Fourteen years later, Roach founded the Saint John Vianney Seminary and served as its first rector. He also received the first Saint Paul Seminary Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1975, Pope Paul VI appointed Roach to lead the archdiocese. He was the first Minneosta native to do so. During his tenure, Roach was arrested for drunken driving and for mishandling the clergy sex abuse cases in the 1980s. Roach served until his retirement in 1995.
John Roach
Categories: Religious Leaders