Happy 80th Birthday, Bishop Smith!
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Friends and close collaborators of Trenton Bishop emeritus John "Mortimer" Smith held a surprise 80th Birthday celebration for him at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Hospital in Lawrenceville, NJ, on Monday, June 22. Bishop Smith, who turns 80 on June 23, has lived at Villa Vianney Retirement Home for Priests since his retirement as Diocesan Bishop five years ago. Diocesan Director of Administrative Services Joseph Bianchi, who has known Bishop Smith since his boyhood in Newark, and his assistant Angela Cannady planned the celebration. As he entered the room, Bishop Smith looked truly surprised by the gathering. "I had no idea," Bishop Smith exclaimed.
Bishop Smith was the ninth Diocesan Bishop of Trenton, first appointed Coadjutor to the late Bishop John Reiss in 1995 succeeding him in 1997. He was was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 27, 1961 and consecrated an auxiliary bishop there on January 25, 1988. He became Diocesan Bishop in Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida in 1991 before his appointment to the Diocese of Trenton. "I can say this is my home," Bishop Smith once reflected in an interview. "The people I love are here and they've been so good to me." Happy Birthday, Bishop Smith, from all of us who "love you back!"
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Friends and close collaborators of Trenton Bishop emeritus John "Mortimer" Smith held a surprise 80th Birthday celebration for him at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Hospital in Lawrenceville, NJ, on Monday, June 22. Bishop Smith, who turns 80 on June 23, has lived at Villa Vianney Retirement Home for Priests since his retirement as Diocesan Bishop five years ago. Diocesan Director of Administrative Services Joseph Bianchi, who has known Bishop Smith since his boyhood in Newark, and his assistant Angela Cannady planned the celebration. As he entered the room, Bishop Smith looked truly surprised by the gathering. "I had no idea," Bishop Smith exclaimed.
Bishop Smith was the ninth Diocesan Bishop of Trenton, first appointed Coadjutor to the late Bishop John Reiss in 1995 succeeding him in 1997. He was was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 27, 1961 and consecrated an auxiliary bishop there on January 25, 1988. He became Diocesan Bishop in Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida in 1991 before his appointment to the Diocese of Trenton. "I can say this is my home," Bishop Smith once reflected in an interview. "The people I love are here and they've been so good to me." Happy Birthday, Bishop Smith, from all of us who "love you back!"
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