New Jersey priest permanently suspended after church trial

Published: 2005-02-10

CLIFTON, N.J. (CNS) -- Father James A.D. Smith has been permanently suspended from ministry after a three-judge church court in the Paterson Diocese found him guilty of at least one act of sexual abuse of a minor. It was the first canonical trial of a diocesan priest held in the diocese since the U.S. bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" was adopted in 2002. "The penalty for the finding of guilt in this instance was the permanent suspension of Father Smith's faculties as a priest," said Marianna Thompson, diocesan director of communications. "He may no longer represent himself as a priest or exercise any of the authorities or duties of ecclesiastical office." The "acts," or record of the trial, will now be sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican to be reviewed. Father Smith, who turns 74 Feb. 21, had been suspended from ministry and placed on administrative leave since 2002, when allegations of abuse were first brought to the attention of the diocese. "Father Smith has the right of appeal to the three judges who proclaimed this verdict and thence to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome," said Thompson. "Father Smith is represented by a canonical advocate and plans to follow the appeals process." In December 2003 the diocese settled a civil suit against Father Smith brought by a former parishioner of Our Lady of Victories in Paterson, where Father Smith once served. The man said Father Smith had abused him over a period of years in the 1960s, beginning when he was 15.

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