“In my years at the Mount, I’ve taught two archbishops and seven bishops, but my great delight has been teaching hundreds of Parish Priests, the great unheralded workers for the Kingdom.” FATHER ROACH
On the Road with Roach
visits to various historically significant sites in and around the Baltimore area. No one knows the official name of the course. It is a boring title, anyway. The course is simply and affectionately known as “On the Road with Roach.” Father Roach’s personal road began in his native Baltimore. He grew up the second son of a doctor and nurse in the post-World War II era. He graduated from Loyola College with a bachelor’s degree in history and eventually earned a Master of Arts in history from The Catholic University of America, a member of the first class to graduate under the endowed chair in American Church History. He received his formation at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained a priest in 1971 by Cardinal Lawrence Shehan. He was hired as an adjunct professor of Church History back in 1978 and has taught multiple generations of future priests.
By Rev. Msgr. Andrew Baker, S.T.D.
Msgr. James Farmer, Archdiocese of Baltimore, S’80, who has known Fr. Roach since their days together at Loyola College, pays the historian a high compliment saying that “he is an extremely good human being.” Not only that but, as Msgr. Philip Halfacre, Diocese of Peoria, S’91, recalls, seminarians took his courses just to be with a fine priest. “Being with him was formative for us apart from the concrete things he taught,” Msgr. Halfacre said.
FOR 42 YEARS, Father Michael Roach, a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, has been teaching Church History at the Seminary. One of his most popular courses—“Research Seminar: History of the Church in the USA”—involves some
Some of his students remember his classes being very engaging and even entertaining. “He was the most interesting professor we had,” Msgr. Edward O’Connor, Diocese of Allentown, S’81, said. “The worst sin a historian can commit,” Fr. Roach once admitted to a seminarian, “is to be boring.” His classes are never boring.
A Tribute to Father Michael Roach
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With his class in the Elder Cemetery
FEATURE SPRING 2021
