John M. Smith (bishop)

{{Short description|American Roman Catholic prelate (1935–2019)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = | honorific-prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend | name = John Mortimer Fourette Smith | honorific-suffix = | title = Bishop of Trenton Titular Bishop of Tres Tabernae | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | diocese = Diocese of Trenton | appointed = November 21, 1995 (Coadjutor) | enthroned = June 30, 1997 | ended = December 1, 2010 | predecessor = John C. Reiss | successor = David M. O'Connell | previous_post = Auxiliary Bishop of Newark 1987 to 1991 Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee 1991 to 1995 | other_post =  | ordination = May 27, 1961 | ordained_by = Thomas Boland | consecration = January 25, 1988 | consecrated_by = Theodore Edgar McCarrick, Peter Leo Gerety, and Walter William Curtis | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|06|23}} | birth_place = Orange, New Jersey, US | death_date = {{death date and age|2019|01|22|1935|06|23}} | death_place = Lawrenceville, New Jersey, US | buried = | nationality = | alma_mater = | signature = | coat_of_arms = | motto = ''Servite Domino in lætitia'' (I will serve God cheerfully) | education = John Carroll University Immaculate Conception Seminary Catholic University of America }} {{Infobox bishopstyles | name= John Mortimer Fourette Smith | dipstyle= *His Excellency *The Most Reverend | offstyle=Your Excellency | relstyle=Bishop | image = Mitre (plain).svg | image_size = 200px }}

'''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 the Diocese of Trenton in New Jersey from 1997 to 2010. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida from 1991 to 1995 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey from 1987 to 1991

==Biography==

=== Early life === John Smith was born on June 23, 1935, 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.

John Smith attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey, and John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1955, he entered Immaculate Conception Seminary, located at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. He obtained a bachelor's degree in classical languages in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bishop John M. Smith |url=https://njcatholic.org/people/bishop-john-m-smith |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419161211/https://njcatholic.org/people/bishop-john-m-smith |archive-date=2019-04-19 |access-date=2025-09-26 |website=New Jersey Catholic Conference |language=en}}</ref>

=== Priesthood === Smith was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Newark by Archbishop Thomas Boland on May 27, 1961.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bishop John Mortimer Fourette Smith [Catholic-Hierarchy] |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bsmith.html |access-date=2025-09-26 |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org}}</ref> He then served as assistant chancellor, as defender of the bond of the Metropolitan Tribunal, and director of the Cursillo movement for the archdiocese.

Smith earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree (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 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, New Jersey, in 1973.

In 1982, Smith became a faculty member 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 New Jersey in 1986, he was named pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Dumont and later vicar general and moderator of the curia.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://dioceseoftrenton.org/bishop-johnsmith|title=Bishop Emeritus John M. Smith, J.C.D., D.D.|website=Diocese of Trenton}}</ref>

=== Auxiliary Bishop of Newark === thumb|295x295px|Pontifical North American College, Rome (2010) On November 20, 1987, Smith was appointed titular bishop of ''Tres Tabernae'' and as an auxiliary bishop of Newark by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on January 25, 1988, at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark from Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, with Archbishop Peter Gerety and Bishop Walter Curtis serving as co-consecrators.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bsmith.htm |access-date=January 23, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/tren1.htm|title=Diocese of Trenton, USA|website=GCatholic}}</ref> From November 1985 to July 1991, including his time as auxiliary bishop of Newark, Smith lived with McCarrick at the Newark cathedral rectory.<ref>{{cite news |title=Report on the Holy See's Institutional Knowledge and Decision Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick |url=http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_rapporto-card-mccarrick_20201110_en.pdf |access-date=10 November 2020 |agency=Secretariat of State of the Holy See |pages=88, 156}}</ref>

===Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee=== Smith was named the third bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee on June 25, 1991, by John Paul II. He was installed on July 31 of that year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ptdiocese.org/previousbishops|title=Previous Bishops of the Diocese|website=Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee}}</ref>

===Coadjutor Bishop and Bishop of Trenton=== On November 21, 1995, Smith was appointed coadjutor bishop of Trenton. He succeeded Bishop John C. Reiss as the ninth bishop of Trenton upon the latter's resignation on June 30, 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dioceseoftrenton.org/bishop-johnreiss|title=Bishop John C. Reiss|website=Diocese of Trenton}}</ref>

In 2002, Smith removed a priest accused of molesting a young boy from an administrative position in the diocese.{{Citation needed|date=March 2015}} 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.

=== Retirement and legacy === On June 4, 2010, David M. O'Connell was named coadjutor bishop of the diocese,<ref>{{cite press release | language = it| url = http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2010/06/04/0364/00842.html | publisher = Holy See Press Office | title = Rinunce e Nomine, 04.06.2010 | date= June 4, 2010 | access-date = November 12, 2010}}</ref> and on December 1, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI accepted Smith's resignation as bishop of Trenton.<ref name="auto"/>

John Smith died in Morris Hall Meadows Home in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on January 22, 2019, following a long illness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dioceseoftrenton.org/news/a-message-from-bishop-oconnell-on-the-death-of-bishop|title=A message from Bishop O'Connell on the death of Bishop Emeritus John M. Smith|website=Diocese of Trenton}}</ref>

In November 2020, a Vatican investigation into McCarrick, now defrocked, 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.<ref>{{cite news | access-date = November 10, 2020 | date= November 10, 2020 | first = Hannah | last= Brockhaus | url = https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/46542/mccarrick-report-vatican-details-mccarricks-career-and-decades-of-sexual-misconduct | publisher = Catholic News Agency | title = McCarrick Report: Vatican details McCarrick's career and decades of sexual misconduct }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/11/n-j-bishops-letters-helped-pave-way-for-mccarrick-led-to-lack-of-trust/ | work = Crux | access-date = November 15, 2020 | date= November 13, 2020 | title = N.J. bishops' letters helped pave way for McCarrick, led to lack of trust | agency = Catholic News Service | first = Barb | last = Fraze }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite web |url=http://www.dioceseoftrenton.org/diocese/biography.asp |title=Biography of Bishop John M. Smith |publisher=Diocese of Trenton |access-date=July 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713065715/http://www.dioceseoftrenton.org/diocese/biography.asp |archive-date=July 13, 2010 }} *{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/22/nyregion/new-bishop-of-trenton-frets-over-the-poor-and-his-priests.html |title=New Bishop of Trenton Frets Over the Poor and His Priests - NYTimes.com |newspaper=New York Times|date= June 22, 1997|author= Stewart, Barbara|access-date=July 11, 2010 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110926212052/http://www.dioceseoftrenton.org/ Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton Official Site]

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | before=John C. Reiss | title=Bishop of Trenton | years=1997–2010 | after=David M. O'Connell}} {{succession box | before= – | title=Coadjutor Bishop of Trenton | years=1995–1997 | after= –}} {{succession box | before=Joseph Keith Symons | title=Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee | years=1991–1995 | after=John Ricard, SSJ}} {{succession box | before= – | title=Auxiliary Bishop of Newark | years=1988–1991 | after= –}} {{succession box | before=Joseph Thomas O’Keefe | title=Titular Bishop of Tres Tabernae | years=1987–1991 | after=Fiachra Ó Ceallaigh, O.F.M.}} {{s-end}}

{{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|New Jersey}} {{Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton}} {{Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee}} {{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John Mortimer}} Category:1935 births Category:2019 deaths Category:John Carroll University alumni Category:Seton Hall University alumni Category:Clergy from Orange, New Jersey Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Newark Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Trenton Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Pensacola–Tallahassee Category:St. Benedict's Preparatory School alumni Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Category:21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Category:Catholics from New Jersey