Pax et Bonum

(Peace and Goodness)

Blessed is the one

who does not walk in the path of the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,

and who meditates on the law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.

(Psalm 1: 1-3)

James Francis Roche, Jr., age 84, of Whitman, MA, died peacefully on January 2, 2022, surrounded by family and friends, after a brief, acute illness. Jim was preceded in death by his parents James Francis Roche, Sr. and Vera (Sullivan) Roche with whom he longed to be reunited in some form in Eternal Life, along with all he loved dearly who have gone before him in death.

Jim grew up in Whitman and lived until his death in the home his parents built when he was 15 years old. Responsible for the maintenance of the property since his father’s death when Jim was 18, he took deep pleasure and pride in caring for all aspects of the home for the next 66 years. An amateur woodworker and craftsman, Jim particularly enjoyed the innumerable hours he spent in his workshop, building furniture and small works of art or making household repairs.

After graduating from Archbishop Williams High School in nearby Braintree, Jim spent many years with the Montfort Fathers, a Roman Catholic order of priests, in Connecticut, New York, and Indiana before returning to Massachusetts. He pursued a degree at Stonehill College while working nights caring for intellectually disabled adults and young people in a custodial home, work he cherished despite its many structural injustices, making many lifelong friends among the residents. Upon graduation from Stonehill, Jim joined the social sciences faculty of B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River, MA, where he taught for the next 34 years. During his tenure there, he coached the debate team, led his students on many trips, including to the former Soviet Union, and involved his pupils in his project to teach literacy and social sciences to incarcerated men in a maximum-security prison. He also engaged his students in local refugee resettlement work and in projects to strengthen food and housing security. While teaching at Durfee, Jim completed two Masters’ degrees at Bridgewater State University and then pursued a PhD in economics at the University of Texas during the summers. Later in his career, Jim taught for many years at Bristol Community College in Fall River, MA Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, MA, and at the University of Southern Maine in Lewiston and Portland, ME. In his retirement, he relished his work, his colleagues, and his customers for 15 years at Trader Joe’s in Hanover, MA.

Jim met his wife Kerry Maloney at a protest for a nuclear disarmament in New York City in 1982. The next time they met was April of 1983 while he was discerning a second call to priesthood with the Paulist community. Jim and Kerry instantly fell in love and decided in August of that year to marry, which they did on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1984. In the coming years, Jim joined Kerry in almost all aspects of her work as a university and college chaplain, first at Boston College, then at Bates College, and finally at Harvard Divinity School. In each of these institutions, he became a beloved and constant fixture, assisting with countless events and programs and traveling with Kerry and her students to dozens of locations for service-learning immersion trips. On all of these campuses—as on the campuses where he taught and at Trader Joe’s—Jim was universally known, respected, and loved.

Concerned always with the advancement of structural social justice as well as with the corporal works of mercy, Jim spent many years volunteering his time, wisdom, skills, and love with many organizations such as the Samaritans Suicide Prevention Hotline, Rosie’s Place, the Women’s Lunch Place, the Greater Boston Food Bank, the Continental Walk for Peace, prison education programs, multiple social justice and peace committees, and two companion church communities in Nicaragua. He regarded this work not only as his responsibility but also as a privilege, embracing all of it with joy and delight.

Saint Paul wrote to the nascent church in Galatia that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23). If these characteristics are evidence that God is breathing through a person, then Jim Roche spent every day of his entire life inspired by the Breath of God. He was especially known for his extraordinary and constant kindness toward all he encountered. In nearly forty years of marriage, his wife never heard him speak an unkind word about or toward anyone. Gentleness was also his great hallmark. Whether interacting with toddlers or elders, he exuded palpable respect, tenderness, patience, curiosity, and a radically egalitarian spirit. He was also blessed with a razor-sharp wit, graced with a sense of Celtic irony and understatement. Where others would find fault, Jim found humor. His first instinct was, always, to laugh. One former student wrote that Jim had “the smallest ego and the biggest heart” of anyone she had ever known; another friend described him as “all goodness”; and his nephew Andrew said that he was “the best and most Christ-like person I have ever known.” None of these statements is hyperbole.

Jim’s wife Kerry considers herself the most fortunate person on earth, having received his unconditional love and constant care every single day for forty years and having had a front-row seat on his extraordinarily generous and generative life. In addition to being survived by Kerry, Jim is survived by his brother-in-law Peter Carleen and sister-in-law Colleen Maloney; his brother-in-law Sean Maloney and sister-in-law Lisa Maloney; nephews Corey Maloney, Andrew Carleen and his wife Maria Carleen, and Jacob Carleen; niece Erin DiCarlo and her husband Tommy DiCarlo; six great-nieces and nephews; his wife’s aunt, Jane Ford, and cousins, Juli Ford Alhadeff and Christopher Ford; many life-long friends, including Dick and Rosemary Watts, Christine Roessel, and Joan Fitzgerald; former colleagues who admired and respected him greatly; and countless former students who considered Jim a mentor, spiritual role model, and friend.

“Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Mt. 25:23) Well done. Pax et bonum. And AMDG.

For those seeking to honor Jim, the best any of us can do is to live our lives with the integrity, simplicity, gentleness, justice, joy, and kindness that he embodied and radiated every day of his life. If you would also like to make a donation in Jim’s memory, he would have been deeply pleased if you wished to support either First Church Shelter (https://www.firstchurchcambri…) or The Women’s Lunch Place (https://womenslunchplace.org/)

Visitation/reception and a Mass of Resurrection will take place on Saturday January 29 at the First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. The Mass will also be livestreamed. We encourage as many as possible to join us virtually for the sake of safety during this surge in COVID infections. For those who choose to attend in person, strict COVID protocols will be in place. (Secure masks required; 6’ distancing, no hugs or handshake; sadly, no food or beverages offered)

9:00-10:40 AM Reception (Drop in and out as desired); 10:40 AM Mass and Livestreaming begin.

Livestream link: https://www.firstchurchcambri… and then click on the “Livestream” link at the top of that page.

For those who choose to attend in person, directions to the church can be found here. The City of Cambridge is reserving 50 unmarked metered parking spaces along Garden Street up to Massachusetts Avenue for the morning of the funeral. It might be best to leave a note on your dashboard that you are attending the funeral for James Roche at the First Church in Cambridge to avoid ticketing.

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