In Memoriam

Our parish joins with the clergy, religious, and faithful across the diocese in mourning the death of the Most Reverend John M. Smith, our Bishop Emeritus who died on January 22.
Born the oldest of three boys to Mortimer and Ethel Smith in Orange, NJ, in 1935, Bishop Smith was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark in 1961.

A graduate of the Catholic University of America, he earned a doctorate in Canon Law in 1966 and was named a Monsignor by Pope St Paul VI in 1971.

He held several positions in the Archdiocese as well as a member of the faculty of the Pontifical North American College, Rome (1982-86) and was consecrated an Auxiliary Bishop of Newark in 1988.

In June 1991, he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee (FL). He returned to New Jersey in 1995 as Coadjutor Bishop of Trenton and two years later succeeded the late Bishop John C Reiss as the ninth Bishop of Trenton. He served as Bishop of Trenton for 13 years, until his retirement at age 75 in 2010.

Solemn Funeral Rites were celebrated at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption on Friday and Saturday, January 25 and 26. Entombment followed at St. Mary’s Cemetery.