Msgr. Joseph L. Roldan, rector of St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, since 2011, was born in 1962 in Newark, one of five children born to Fernando and Juanita Roldan. He attended St. Rose of Lima School, Freehold, and Freehold Borough High School before attending the Society of the Divine Word College Seminary, Epworth, Iowa, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1987.
Upon graduation, Msgr. Roldan took a period of discernment and worked as a counselor for the N.J. Department of Labor’s Division of Rehabilitative Services in Monmouth County for 11 years.
Msgr. Roldan decided to become a Trenton diocesan priest and entered Mount St. Mary Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md. He was ordained a priest May 18, 2002, by Bishop John M. Smith, who assigned him as parochial vicar of St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Hightstown.
In June 2004, he was appointed parochial vicar of St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Red Bank. Msgr. Roldan was appointed administrator of Christ the Redeemer Parish, Mount Holly, in November 2005; in January 2007, he became pastor there.
Msgr. Roldan remained in Mount Holly until he was named rector of St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M.