Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton
Encyclopedia
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 in southern New Jersey, United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes the counties of Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean, and Mercer (where the capital city of Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...

 is located).

Pope Leo XIII created the Diocese of Trenton in 1881, carving it out of the Diocese of Newark
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark
The Archdiocese of Newark is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in northern New Jersey, United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes all of the Catholic parishes and schools in the New Jersey counties of Bergen, Union, Hudson and Essex .-History:Originally established as the Diocese of...

, which then covered all of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

.

When first created, the Diocese of Trenton, which has since been further subdivided, included 14 counties and covered two-thirds of the area of New Jersey. It had about 35,000 Catholics in a general population of 413,693, with 51 priests. Its first bishop was Michael J. O’Farrell.

In its 128-year history, the diocese has been divided twice to establish new dioceses.

History

Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 in the diocese dates back more than 250 years.

Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 Father Joseph Greaton arrived in Philadelphia in 1729 and built Old St. Joseph Church, on Willings Alley at Fourth St. About 1732, he took charge of the West Jersey
West Jersey
West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702...

 mission territory extending from Trenton to Cape May
Cape May
Cape May is a peninsula and island ; the southern tip of the island is the southernmost point of the state of New Jersey, United States. It runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean...

.

A few years later, visits to the widely scattered Catholic families were recorded by Father Theodore Schneider, another Jesuit, who visited the iron furnaces in the southern part of the state in 1744. Traveling on horseback, by stagecoach and riverboat, the energetic Jesuit covered all of south and central Jersey, as well as parts of eastern Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 and Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

.

When Schneider died in 1764, Father Ferdinand Steinmeyer, another Jesuit, succeeded him. Also known as Father Ferdinand Farmer, he traversed the state from Philadelphia to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 twice yearly visiting scattered Catholic families. He continued the ministry until his death in 1786.

When the dioceses of New York and Philadelphia were established in 1808, West Jersey, the southern part, came under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishops of Philadelphia. When the Diocese of Newark was established in 1853, all of the state was in its jurisdiction.

First parish

About 1804, records show, mass was celebrated in the printing office of Isaac Collins at Queen and Second Streets (now State and Broad Streets) in the heart of the Trenton business district.

From 1811 to l8l4, mass was celebrated in the Federal St. home of John Baptist Sartori, a consular official who represented the commercial interests of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...

 in Italy.

When the number of Catholics coming to mass became too much for the Sartori residence, it was decided to purchase land for a church to accommodate the growing congregation.

With the encouragement of Michael Egan, the first Bishop of Philadelphia, Sartori and John Hargous bought a plot at Lamberton and Market Streets. A small brick church was erected and dedicated to St. John
John the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...

 in 1814. The congregation was the first Catholic parish in the state.

Some time later, a new parish church was built on South Broad Street. Following a devastating fire in 1883, a new church was erected and dedicated to the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart
The Sacred Heart is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of His divine love for Humanity....

. As the population of Trenton grew, new churches were built in Bordentown
Bordentown, New Jersey
Bordentown City is in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 3,924. Bordentown is located at the confluence of the Delaware River, Blacks Creek and Crosswicks Creek...

 and Lambertville
Lambertville, New Jersey
Lambertville is a city in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 3,906.Lambertville was originally incorporated as a town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 1, 1849, from portions of West Amwell Township...

. In the 1860s
1860s
The 1860s were an extremely turbulent decade with numerous cultural, social, and political upheavals in Europe and America. Revolutions were prevalent in Germany and the Ottoman Empire...

, Father Anthony Smith saw the need for a new parish in the northern section of the city and, in 1865, purchased land where St. Mary Cathedral
Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption (Trenton, New Jersey)
The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, also known as St. Mary’s Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in Trenton, New Jersey, United States. It is the seat of the Diocese of Trenton. -History:...

 stands.

The site of the Cathedral is the place where Col. Johann Gottlieb Rall, commander of the Hessian troops, had his headquarters in December 1776 during the Battle of Trenton
Battle of Trenton
The Battle of Trenton took place on December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, after General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The hazardous crossing in adverse weather made it possible for Washington to lead the main body of the...

. Construction of the church took five years, and it was dedicated by Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley
James Roosevelt Bayley
James Roosevelt Bayley was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Newark and the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore .-Early life and education:...

 of Newark on the Sunday of 1 January 1871.

Diocese established

In 1860, there were 25,000 Catholics in New Jersey, and by 1880 there were 130,000.

In 1881, Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...

 established the Diocese of Trenton to serve the Catholics of the southern part of the state and named Father Michael J. O’Farrell of New York as its first bishop. At the time, the diocese had 68 churches, 23 parochial schools and 51 priests.

New Jersey's Catholic population continued to grow with immigration from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

. By 1910 it had grown to 440,000, and by 1930 it had climbed to 1,050,000.

In 1937, Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...

 created the Diocese of Camden
Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden is a particular church or diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, located in New Jersey, United States, and presides over Roman Catholic parishes and schools in the six southern New Jersey counties of Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland,...

 to serve Catholics in the six counties in the southern part of the state, under Bishop Bartholomew Eustace. The now smaller Diocese of Trenton had a Catholic population of 210,114 in eight counties with 212 diocesan priests, 121 parishes and 70 parochial schools.

Much of the growth of the Catholic population in the Trenton Diocese took place during the episcopacy of Bishop George W. Ahr
George W. Ahr
George William Ahr was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Trenton from 1950 to 1979.-Biography:...

, from 1952 to his retirement, on 23 June 1979, an era in which the Catholic population grew to more than 800,000.

Ahr established more than 50 new parishes and blessed more than 250 new buildings, including 100 new churches and parish centers and 90 schools and school additions.

On 14 March 1956, in the midst of the tremendous growth, tragedy struck when fire destroyed St. Mary’s Cathedral, claiming the lives of the rector, Msgr. Richard T. Crean, and two housekeepers.

In a diocese that was growing and a world that was changing, Ahr took part in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

 and guided implementation of the council’s decrees in the diocese.

Centennial

On 22 April 1980, John C. Reiss
John C. Reiss
John Charles Reiss is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Trenton from 1980 to 1997.-Biography:...

, who had been auxiliary bishop of the diocese since 1967, succeeded Ahr and led the celebration of the diocesan centennial in August 1981.

Just a few months later, on 24 November 1980, the diocese, now with a Catholic population of 850,000, was divided again to establish the Diocese of Metuchen
Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen is a Roman Catholic diocese in New Jersey, centered in the borough of Metuchen. It was erected on November 19, 1981, from the territory of the Diocese of Trenton....

, which included the four northern counties of Middlesex
Middlesex County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 750,162 people, 265,815 households, and 190,855 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,422 people per square mile . There were 273,637 housing units at an average density of 884 per square mile...

, Somerset
Somerset County, New Jersey
Somerset County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In 2010, the population was 323,444. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Somerville....

, Hunterdon
Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 128,349. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Flemington....

 and Warren
Warren County, New Jersey
Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 108,692. Its county seat is Belvidere...

.

Following the split, the Diocese of Trenton had a population of 447,915 Catholics in Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties, with 119 parishes served by 193 diocesan priests and 105 religious priests.

After initiating the Emmaus program of priestly spirituality in 1982, Reiss implemented the Renew process for lay spirituality, which was intended to bring parishioners together in small faith-sharing groups in five seasons from 1985 through 1987.

In 1986, Reiss approved a new vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

iate structure for administration of the diocese. On 13 January 1991, he opened the Fourth Diocesan Synod during a Mass in St. Mary's Cathedral. It came 60 years after the Third Synod.

On 30 June 1992, Reiss launched Faith-In-Service, a diocesan capital and endowment fund campaign, to try to ensure the financial stability of diocesan services. The campaign had a goal of $32 million and raised more than $38 million in gifts and pledges.

In 1982, Msgr. Edward U. Kmiec
Edward U. Kmiec
Edward Urban Kmiec is the thirteenth and current Roman Catholic Bishop of Buffalo. Kmiec served as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Trenton from 1982 until his installation as Bishop of Nashville in 1992...

, who had been master of ceremonies and secretary for Bishop Ahr and later for Bishop Reiss, was named Auxiliary Bishop of Trenton. Ten years later, Bishop Kmiec was appointed Bishop of Nashville, Tennessee
Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tennessee. It was founded on July 28, 1837 by the Dominican Bishop Richard Pius Miles. The Cathedral Church of the Incarnation is the seat of the Bishops of Nashville....

.

On 21 November 1995, John M. Smith
John Mortimer Smith
John Mortimer Fourette Smith is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the ninth Bishop of Trenton, having previously served as Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee from 1991 to 1995...

 was named Coadjutor Bishop
Coadjutor bishop
A coadjutor bishop is a bishop in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches who is designated to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese, almost as co-bishop of the diocese...

 of Trenton, to eventually succeed Reiss as bishop of the diocese. Smith, a native of the Newark Archdiocese and a former Auxiliary Bishop of Newark, at the time was Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida
Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee is a Roman Catholic diocese in Florida; it was founded on October 1, 1975. The Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee is the pastor of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart located in Pensacola, Florida...

.

On reaching the age of 75, Reiss submitted his letter of retirement to Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

. The letter was accepted, effective July 1, 1997, and that day Smith became Chief Shepherd of the Diocese of Trenton. Upon reaching the age of 75, Smith submitted his letter of retirement to Pope Benedict XVI. The letter was accepted, effective December 1, 2010, and that day Bishop David M. O'Connell, the former President of Catholic University of America, and recently appointed coadjutor, became Bishop of Trenton.

Bishops of the Diocese of Trenton

  1. Michael J. O'Farrell
    Michael J. O'Farrell
    Michael Joseph O'Farrell was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop of Trenton .-Biography:...

     (1881-1894)
  2. James Augustine McFaul
    James Augustine McFaul
    James Augustine McFaul was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Trenton from 1894 until his death in 1917.-Biography:...

     (1894-1917)
  3. Thomas J. Walsh (1917-1928)
  4. John J. McMahon
    John J. McMahon
    John Joseph McMahon was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Trenton from 1928 until his death in 1932.-Biography:...

     (1928-1932)
  5. Moses E. Kiley
    Moses E. Kiley
    Moses Elias Kiley was a Canadian-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Trenton and Archbishop of Milwaukee .-Early life and education:...

     (1934-1940)
  6. William A. Griffin (1940-1950)
  7. George W. Ahr
    George W. Ahr
    George William Ahr was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Trenton from 1950 to 1979.-Biography:...

     (1950-1979)
  8. John C. Reiss
    John C. Reiss
    John Charles Reiss is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Trenton from 1980 to 1997.-Biography:...

     (1980-1997)
  9. John Mortimer Smith
    John Mortimer Smith
    John Mortimer Fourette Smith is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the ninth Bishop of Trenton, having previously served as Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee from 1991 to 1995...

     (1997-2010)
  10. David M. O'Connell (2010 to present)

High schools

  • Christian Brothers Academy
    Christian Brothers Academy (New Jersey)
    Christian Brothers Academy , located in the Lincroft section of Middletown Township, New Jersey, is a private, all-boys college preparatory school with a focus on Christian education run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded by St. John Baptist de la Salle...

    *, Lincroft
  • Holy Cross High School, Delran
  • Mater Dei High School, New Monmouth
  • Monsignor Donovan High School
    Monsignor Donovan High School
    Monsignor Donovan High School is the only Roman Catholic High School in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, and operates under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton. Located in the coastal community of Toms River Township, the school originally opened in 1962 as St. Joseph...

    , Toms River
  • Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville
  • Red Bank Catholic High School
    Red Bank Catholic High School
    Red Bank Catholic High School is a four-year private coeducational Roman Catholic high school, located in Red Bank, New Jersey, under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton...

    , Red Bank
  • St. John Vianney High School, Holmdel
  • St. Rose High School
    St. Rose High School
    St. Rose High School is a co-educational four-year Catholic high school in Belmar, New Jersey, United States. The school operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton. The school was founded in 1923 by the Parish of St...

    , Belmar
  • Stuart Country Day School
    Stuart Country Day School
    Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart is an independent all-girls Catholic country day school located in Princeton Township, New Jersey, that serves students from pre-school through grade 12...

    , Princeton
  • Trenton Catholic Academy
    Trenton Catholic Academy
    Trenton Catholic Academy is a regional Catholic elementary and high school in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, serving students in pre-K through 12th grade, under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton....

    , Hamilton
  • Villa Victoria Academy
    Villa Victoria Academy
    Villa Victoria Academy is an all-girls, private, Catholic elementary and high school in Ewing Township, New Jersey. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton....

    , Ewing Township

*Operates independently with the concurrence of the Diocese.

Ecclesiastical province

See also

  • John Joseph Cardinal Carberry (secretary to Bishop Moses E. Kiley)
  • List of the Catholic cathedrals of the United States
  • List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States
  • Plenary Councils of Baltimore
    Plenary Councils of Baltimore
    The Plenary Councils of Baltimore were three national meetings of Roman Catholic bishops in the 19th century in Baltimore, Maryland.During the early history of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States all of the dioceses were part of one ecclesiastical province under the Archbishop of Baltimore...

  • Roman Catholicism in the United States
    Roman Catholicism in the United States
    The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, the Christian Church in full communion with the Pope. With more than 68.5 registered million members, it is the largest single religious denomination in the United States, comprising about 22 percent of the population...

  • Catholicism and American politics
    Catholicism and American politics
    Members of the Catholic Church have been active in the politics of the United States since the mid 19th century. The U.S. has never had an important religious party...

  • History of Roman Catholicism in the United States
    History of Roman Catholicism in the United States
    Catholicism first came to the territories now forming the United States with the Spanish explorers and settlers in present-day Florida , Georgia , and the southwest...


External links

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