A funeral Mass will be held today, Aug. 29, at 11 a.m. in Holy Family Chapel in the Convent Station neighborhood of Morris Township for Sister Clare Mary Roden, a Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth.
Sister Roden died on Aug. 19 in St. Catherine of Siena Health Center in Caldwell. She was 92. She was a Sister of Charity for 74 years.
Born in Jersey City, Sister Roden entered the Sisters of Charity in 1949. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of St. Elizabeth, now St. Elizabeth University. She taught at St. Antoninus School in Newark, St. Joseph School in Paterson, and St. Bridget School in Jersey City.
After earning a master’s degree in education from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Sister Roden taught English, religion, and Latin at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Hoboken, St. John High School in Paterson, and Paramus Catholic Regional High School in Paramus. She was the supervisor of schools, Western Province, in Paterson.
Sister Roden also served as religious education director of Annunciation Parish in Wayne, St. James of the Marches Parish in Totowa, and Holy Trinity Parish in Hackensack.
Upon retiring, Sister Roden moved to St. Anne Villa in Convent Station in 2016. She volunteered for the Little Sisters of the Poor. She moved to St. Joseph’s Home for the Elderly in Totowa and then to St. Catherine of Siena Healthcare, where she resided until her death.
Sister Roden was predeceased by her parents, Philip and Helen Roden; her brother, Joseph, and sister-in-law, Patricia; and brothers, Robert and Frederick. She is survived by the Sisters of Charity; her sister-in-law, Carol, of Connecticut; and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces, and great-grand nephews.
Sister Roden’s wake will be held today, Aug. 29, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in Holy Family Chapel, before her funeral Mass. The Mass will be livestreamed at the following link:
https://venue.streamspot.com/event/NDk5ODY4OQ==
A memorial donation can be made in Sister Roden’s name to the Sisters of Charity Development Fund, P.O. Box 476, Convent Station, N.J., 07961-0476.
