Most Rev. John Mortimer Smith
Deceased: 2019-01-22
Diocese: TRENTON
CSM Graduation Year: 1982
Most Rev. John Mortimer Smith, J.C.D., D.D. retired bishop of Trenton died Jan. 22, 2019 in Morris Hall Meadows, a long-term care facility in Lawrenceville, after a long illness. He was 83, a native of New Jersey, served as the Ninth Bishop of Trenton.
Born and raised in Orange, New Jersey, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark by Archbishop Thomas A. Boland in 1961. Pope John Paul II named him an Auxiliary Bishop of Newark in 1987, and he was ordained a Bishop in Sacred Heart Basilica Cathedral on January 25, 1988.
He was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida by Pope John Paul II in 1991. Four years later, Bishop Smith was named Coadjutor Bishop of Trenton by Pope John Paul II. He succeeded Bishop John C. Reiss as Bishop of Trenton and served from 1997-2010.
He attended Saint John Parochial Elementary School in Orange, New Jersey, and Saint Benedict Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey. Later, he attended John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, prior to beginning his studies for the priesthood in 1955 at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, New Jersey.
He received a bachelor’s degree in classical languages from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, in 1957, and a bachelor’s degree in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1961.
He was ordained a priest in Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark, New Jersey, by Archbishop Thomas A. Boland on May 27, 1961. As a newly ordained priest, he was appointed to the Archdiocesan Chancery Office and assigned to graduate studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Bishop Smith also received a doctorate in canon law from Catholic University in 1966.
Bishop Smith served as assistant chancellor of the Archdiocese of Newark, defender of the bond in the Archdiocesan Matrimonial Tribunal, and Archdiocesan Coordinator of the English Cursillo Movement.
Bishop Smith was a visiting professor in pastoral theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary, served six years as an elected representative on the Newark Archdiocesan Council of Priests, and three years as Dean of Central Bergen County. In 1971, he was named a Papal Chamberlain with the title “Monsignor” by Pope Paul VI.
In June of 1973, Bishop Smith was appointed to the first team ministry at Saint Joseph Church in Oradell, New Jersey, by Archbishop Boland, where he served for nine years as a parish priest.
In 1982, Bishop Smith was appointed to the faculty of the Pontifical North American College in Rome as director of the Institute for Continuing Theological Education and Program Director of the U.S. Bishops’ Consultation IV.
After spending four years in Rome, Bishop Smith was appointed pastor of Saint Mary Church, in Dumont, New Jersey, in June of 1986 by Archbishop Peter L. Gerety. Shortly thereafter, then-Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick was installed as Archbishop of Newark, and Bishop Smith was named chairman of the Archdiocesan Vocation Board. He was appointed Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia on November 15, 1986.
St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Trenton will receive the late bishop’s body the afternoon of Jan. 25. His body will lie in repose until the celebration of the Mass of Jesus Christ the High Priest that evening.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated Jan. 26. Afterward, Bishop Smith will be entombed in the mausoleum of St. Mary Cemetery in Trenton.
