John M. Smith (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.

His Excellency, The Most Reverend John Mortimer Fourette Smith
Bishop of Trenton
Diocese	Trenton
Appointed	November 21, 1995 (Coadjutor)
Installed	June 30, 1997
Term ended	December 1, 2010
Predecessor	John C. Reiss
Successor	David M. O'Connell
Orders
Ordination	May 27, 1961
Consecration	January 25, 1988 by Theodore Edgar McCarrick, Peter Leo Gerety, and Walter William Curtis
Personal details
Born	June 23, 1935 Orange, New Jersey
Died	January 22, 2019 (aged 83) Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Previous post	Auxiliary Bishop of Newark Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee
Motto	Servite Domino in lætitia

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

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 Institute for Continuing Theological Education and program director of the U.S. Bishops' Consultation IV. 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]

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.[5]

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.[6]

In 2002, Smith removed a priest accused of molesting a young boy from an administrative position in the diocese. 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,[7] 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.[8]

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.[9][10]

See also

• Catholic Church hierarchy
• Catholic Church in the United States
• Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• List of Catholic bishops of the United States
• Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops

References

1. Bishop John M. Smith Archived April 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, New Jersey Catholic Conference. Accessed November 29, 2017. "John M. Smith was born in Orange on June 23, 1935, the oldest son of Mrs. Ethel Charnock Smith and Mortimer F. Smith, now both deceased..... He attended Saint John Parochial Elementary School in Orange, New Jersey, and Saint Benedict Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey."
2. "Bishop Emeritus John M. Smith, J.C.D., D.D." Diocese of Trenton.
3. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bsmith.htm
4. "Diocese of Trenton, USA". GCatholic.
5. "Previous Bishops of the Diocese". Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
6. "Bishop John C. Reiss". Diocese of Trenton.
7. "Rinunce e Nomine, 04.06.2010" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. June 4, 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
8. "A message from Bishop O'Connell on the death of Bishop Emeritus John M. Smith". Diocese of Trenton.
9. Brockhaus, Hannah (November 10, 2020). "McCarrick Report: Vatican details McCarrick's career and decades of sexual misconduct". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
10. Fraze, Barb (November 13, 2020). "N.J. bishops' letters helped pave way for McCarrick, led to lack of trust". Crux. Catholic News Service. Retrieved November 15, 2020.

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