OSJD The Most Rev. Richard G. Roy

Obituary of The Most Rev. Richard G. Roy, OSJD

ALBANY –

Archbishop Richard G. Roy, OSJD, founder and first Primate of the National Catholic Church of America, passed away peacefully on August 23, 2025 at home. He was 76 years of age. The archbishop was a native of Troy, NY, the son of the late Louis J. and Marie V. Roy. He was also predeceased by his sister Judith M. Roy of St. Paul, Minnesota. He is survived by his beloved partner and spouse of 50 years Brother Stephen K. Peterson OSJD of Albany NY.

As a child the archbishop attended schools in Lansingburgh Troy where he was raised. He was a graduate of Catholic Central High School. During his teen years he was an award-winning singer and actor and he spent his summers tutoring disadvantaged minority children in Troy through his high school Inter-racial Club. He had been a parishioner at Saint Augustine's Church in Troy and, following graduation, he entered the Order of Saint Augustine (Roman Catholic). He left that community in 1970.

In 1971 he moved to Albany, NY where he became an early member of the Gay and Lesbian Front of the Tri-Cities (now called The Pride Center of the Capital Region) serving that same year as a coffee house host at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Albany then located on Lark Street. During that time, he was also a co-founder of the first LGBTQ rights organization at the University called State University of New York at Albany Gay Alliance (now renamed). He was also involved in forming the Capital Area Council on Religion and Homosexuality which functioned during the mid-1970's through ecumenical and interfaith outreach. He was also a founding member of the Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club. An outspoken critic of the war in Vietnam he participated in demonstrations against the war locally and in Washington, D.C.

Still committed to his call to serve God, in 1973 he moved to Denver, Colorado becoming an ecumenical member of the Order of the Holy Family (Episcopal). During his years as a member of both religious communities he pursued studies in theology, psychology, scripture, homiletics, pastoral ministry and monastic studies as well as liberal arts. Following a brief period of time after leaving that community, he lived in Cambridge MA. He then returned to the Capital District due to his mother's failing health. Still a practicing Roman Catholic, in 1975 he founded the first regional chapter of DIGNITY, a national organization for Roman Catholic LGBTQ people and their allies. At that time he was instrumental in bringing the late Father John McNeill, Jesuit priest, theologian, and author to speak in the area. Roy served as the Albany Chapter president for the first two years.

From 1975 until 1992 he was employed by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles having been promoted four times to increasingly responsible supervisory positions. In 1992 he left that agency and pursued a program of study at The New School of Radio and Television in Albany and earned a Certificate in Broadcast Journalism. Following his graduation, he became a reporter at Empire State News providing recorded radio news stories about the New York State Legislature and the Executive branch to radio stations throughout the state such as 1010 WINS, New York City.

In the early 1990's, he continued to discern his call to ordained ministry, and was determined to pursue it within a Church of the Independent Catholic Movement. He was ordained first as a deacon then to the Catholic priesthood by Archbishop William D. Donovan, Presiding Bishop of the American Catholic Church at Saint Michael's Abbey in Warrensburg NY in 1994. His first assignment was as Curate of the Chapel of the Angels at Saint Michael's. In this same year he founded the Order of Saint John the Divine; an ecumenical, neo-monastic religious community. He was elected and blessed as Abbot by Bishop David C. Strong at Saint John's American Episcopal Church in Manhattan. Since 1994 the Order of Saint John the Divine has run a retreat house at The Priory of Saint Aelred of Rievaulx in Northville NY on its 12 acres of land in the foothills of the Adirondacks, which the archbishop served a Director of Retreats for people from throughout the northeastern United States as well as Canada. In 1995 he founded Holy Trinity Parish Church. For all but the first two years Holy Trinity has been located in Albany, NY. The parish was a voting member of the Capital Area Council of Churches. He was subsequently ordained and consecrated bishop for the Order on October 12, 1997 by Bishop Strong and two other bishops of the Independent Catholic Movement at the Alumnae Chapel of the Emma Willard School in Troy NY.

Following the death of Archbishop Donovon and the resulting dissolution of the American Catholic Church and, with the approval of his principal consecrator, Bishop Strong, he established the National Catholic Church of America in 1998 and was elected its first Primate by the lay and clerical members of the Church. While pursuing course work at Saint Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Albany and subsequent study at Holy Trinity Institute for Theology and Ministry, the seminary program for the National Catholic Church of America, he earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.).

In 1975 he met the love of his life (and eventual spouse) Stephen K. Peterson. They were legally and sacramentally married in 2009 by Bishop Paul Diederich and clergy of the NCCA at the church of Saint John the Evangelist in Boston MA. Stephen became his partner in ministry as well as life as a lay brother of the Order of Saint John the Divine, founded by the archbishop and three other members on All Saints Day (November 1)1994. Stephen and Richard shared their lives together for more than 50 years.

Other survivors of the archbishop include his two nieces, Michelle Hynes of Roswell Georgia and Lauren Hynes of Boulder Colorado and their children Sophia, Ian, and Zachary. He is also survived by his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Dr. H. Kenneth Peterson and Kathleen V. O'Connell of Cincinnati Ohio.

Family and friends are invited to view the archbishop's body and offer condolences on Tuesday, September 23, 2025 from 5-7PM at The Riverview Funeral Home, 218 2nd Avenue (corner of 104th Street) Lansingburgh Troy.

The Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 10 o'clock in the morning, with The Most Reverend Bishop Jonathan Gray, Celebrant, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 85 Chestnut Street, Albany, NY 12210. There will be a period of visitation prior to the funeral mass in the vestibule of the church on Wednesday morning, from 9AM until 10AM.

Interment with the Rite of Committal will follow immediately after the mass in Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands NY. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor the Archbishop's memory and his more than 31 years of ministry, may make donations to the National Catholic Church of America or other inclusive charitable organizations.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family, online at: TheRiverviewFuneralHome.com