John M. Smith (bishop)

Styles of John Mortimer Fourette Smith
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

John Mortimer Fourette Smith (June 23, 1935 – January 22, 2019) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the ninth Bishop of Trenton from 1997 to 2010. He was Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee from 1991 to 1995.

Early life[]

John Smith was born in Orange, New Jersey, to Mortimer and Ethel (née Charnock) Smith. The oldest of three children, he had two brothers, Andrew (who later became a Benedictine monk) and Gregory. He attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark and John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1955, he entered Immaculate Conception Seminary, a branch of Seton Hall University, from where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in classical languages in 1957.^[1]

Priesthood[]

Smith was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Thomas Boland on May 27, 1961. He then served as Assistant Chancellor, Defender of the Bond of the Metropolitan Tribunal, and director of the Cursillo movement for the Archdiocese of Newark.

Smith earned a Bachelor's degree in Sacred Theology (1961) and a doctorate in canon law (1966) from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He was also a visiting professor of pastoral theology at his alma mater of the Immaculate Conception Seminary, an elected representative on the Archdiocesan Council of Priests, and dean of central Bergen County. Smith was raised to the rank of Papal Chamberlain by Pope Paul VI in 1971, and assigned to the team ministry of St. Joseph Church in Oradell in 1973.

In 1982, he became a member of the faculty of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he was director of the and program director of the . Upon his return to the United States in 1986, he was named pastor of St. Mary's Church in Dumont and later vicar general and moderator of the curia.^[2]

Episcopal career[]

Auxiliary Bishop of Newark[]

On November 20, 1987, Smith was appointed Titular Bishop of Tres Tabernae and Auxiliary Bishop of Newark by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on January 25, 1988 from Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, with Archbishop Peter Gerety and Bishop Walter Curtis serving as co-consecrators.^[3][4] While serving as auxiliary bishop of Newark, Smith lived with Archbishop McCarrick at the Newark cathedral rectory.^[5]

Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee[]

Smith was later named the third Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, on June 25, 1991. He was formally installed on July 31 of that year.^[6]

Bishop of Trenton[]

On November 21, 1995, Smith was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Trenton in his native New Jersey. He succeeded John C. Reiss as the ninth Bishop of Trenton upon the latter's resignation on June 30, 1997.^[7]

In 2002, Smith removed a priest accused of molesting a young boy from an administrative position in the diocese.^{[citation needed]} The diocese had reported the allegation to the Monmouth County prosecutor's office when it was first made in 1990, but prosecutors had decided not to file criminal charges because of insufficient evidence. Smith relieved the priest of his duties following a review of personnel files to ensure the public's confidence in the clergy.

On June 4, 2010, David M. O'Connell, the former President of the Catholic University of America, was named Coadjutor Bishop of the diocese,^[8] and on December 1, 2010, Pope Benedict accepted Smith's resignation.^[2]

Smith died in Morris Hall Meadows, Lawrenceville on January 22, 2019, following a long illness.^[9]

In November 2020, a Vatican investigation into the case of defrocked former cardinal Theodore McCarrick identified Smith as one of three bishops who "provided inaccurate and incomplete information to the Holy See regarding McCarrick’s sexual conduct with young adults" when McCarrick was a candidate for the post of Archbishop of Washington in 2000.^[10][11]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

• "Biography of Bishop John M. Smith". Diocese of Trenton. Archived from the original on July 13, 2010. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
• Stewart, Barbara (June 22, 1997). "New Bishop of Trenton Frets Over the Poor and His Priests - NYTimes.com". New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton Official Site