Funeral services will be held April 12 in Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Morris Hall, Lawrenceville, for Father James E. Coley who died April 8. He would have celebrated his 92nd birthday on April 17.

Rite of Reception of the Body will be at 6 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 7 p.m. with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., presiding.

Father Coley was born in Trenton and his home parish was Sacred Heart, Trenton. He graduated from Trenton Catholic High School and La Salle College, Philadelphia. He prepared for the priesthood in Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington. He was ordained a priest by Bishop William A. Griffin May 31, 1947,  in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton.

As an associate pastor, Father Coley was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish, New Brunswick; Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Highlands; St. John the Evangelist Parish, Dunellen, and Holy Angels Parish, Hamilton.

In 1958, Father Coley began a term as chaplain for Catholic students in Rider College, Lawrenceville. Five years later, he was named associate pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, Riverton, and in 1965, he was named to his first pastorate in St. John Parish, Allentown.

Other parishes where Father Coley served as pastor included Christ the King Parish, Manville; Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Maple Shade, and St. Ann Parish, Hampton, with its mission church, Annunciation, Bloomsbury.

While he was in St. Ann Parish, Hampton, Father Coley also became in 1976 associate director of the newly established Office of the Diaconate.

Following a sabbatical from August 1980 to June 1981, during which he attended the Institute of Spirituality and Worship in the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, Calif., he was named pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, Riverton, where he remained until he retired in 1990.

He was one of the first priests in the diocese to earn a master’s degree in counseling from Iona College, New Rochelle.

During his long tenure as a priest, Father Coley also served as a member of the diocesan liturgical commission, moderator of the Burlington Region Parent Teacher Association, vocation director for Somerset County; two three-year terms on the diocesan Continuing Education Committee, and liaison for retired priests. He also wrote weekly articles for The Monitor and inaugurated the radio program, “Catechism Comes to Life.”