Sr. Jane Roach, SHCJ

Jane Roach, SHCJ

August 28, 1928 – February 28, 2025

Educator, Administrator, Librarian

Rosemont, Pennsylvania – Jane Roach, SHCJ, a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus for 71 years, died peacefully on Friday, February 28, 2025. She was 96.

Sister Jane was outgoing, loving, gracious, and quick to make friends wherever she lived and served. Until her last days, she stayed active and involved in the lives of family, former students, and those with whom she once ministered. In her later years, while living in community at Augusta House in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Sister Jane delighted in her friendships, especially “the 8’o’clock daily Mass community” from Our Mother of Good Counsel Church. Sister Jane also loved walking throughout the neighborhood, with many stops, no doubt, to greet fellow walkers and neighbors. In 2022, when she moved to the Holy Child Sisters’ retirement community in Rosemont, Sister Jane loved to tell stories of her adventures and friendships and remained connected with family and friends. She will be deeply missed.

Sister Jane was raised in a close-knit Irish Catholic family in the small community of Crestwood, New York. With no Catholic schools in the area, she attended public grade school and high school. For college, Sister Jane found her way to Rosemont College in an unusual way. According to Sister Jane, she had joined her brother’s college visit to Villanova University, and while there, the family learned about Rosemont College. Following the Villanova visit, Sister Jane and her family spontaneously traveled down the road to Rosemont College, where they knocked on a door and were graciously greeted by a Holy Child Sister. That visit to Rosemont changed Sister Jane’s life forever. She graduated from Rosemont College in 1950 and then immediately entered the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. She made her first and final vows in 1953 and 1958, respectively, and became well known by her religious name, Mother Mary Concepta.

Sister Jane’s educational ministry spanned six decades, serving in schools across the United States and in the United Kingdom. She once shared that her guiding principle and inspiration for her ministry in education came from a Christmas card from years past: Our lives must be a sign that God continues to gently bless His children. Sister Jane then responded, “How Incarnational can that be!”

She served at Saints Peter and Paul in Fleetwood, New York (1953-56); Mayfield Junior School of the Holy Child Jesus in Pasadena, California (1956-66); Holy Child Academy in Portland, Oregon (1966-72); Saint Elizabeth School in New York City (1972-78); Our Lady of Humility in Zion, Illinois (1979-83 and 1984-96); and Annunciation School in Washington, D.C. (1983-84).

In 1978, Sister Jane enjoyed a wonderful year as an exchange teacher at a Holy Child school in Edgbaston, England. 

After a sabbatical at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1996, Sister Jane remained in Cambridge for another 12 years, serving as a librarian at Saint Peter School. In 2009, Sister Jane moved to the Holy Child community in Rye, New York, where she volunteered as a librarian at the School of the Holy Child until 2013.

Sister Jane moved to a Holy Child community in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, in 2015, when the Holy Child Sisters’ community in Rye closed. In Fall 2022, Holy Child Center in Rosemont became her home, where she could be found walking the campus with Patricia (Pat) Tirrell, SHCJ, and Margaret Rogers, SHCJ, offering a hug or smile, or joining in the celebrations and activities. 

Sister Jane earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art from Rosemont College in 1950 and a Master of Arts in Education Administration from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, in 1964.

She joins her parents, Michael and Mary (Halpin); twin brother Robert and sister-in-law Mary Dee; and sisters Mary (Taylor) and Alice (Knowles). She is survived by nephews, John (Jay), Robert (Randy), and Christopher; niece, Rosemary; and devoted cousins, Mary Margaret Ireland, Robert Pearl, Agnes Pearl, Doreen Ryan, and Kathy Roach.

Friends and family are invited to a Prayer of Remembrance on Thursday, March 6, 2025, at 4:00 p.m., and a Mass of Christian Burial on Friday, March 7, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., at Holy Child Chapel, 1341 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, Pennsylvania 19010. Preceding Mass, friends and family are welcome to attend the visitation at 10:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Society of the Holy Child Jesus – American Province, 1341 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, Pennsylvania 19041, or made online at https://www.shcj.org/american/donate/.