The first priests to venture into East Jersey were Harvey and Gage, the chaplains of the Catholic governor of New York, Thomas Dongan.

During the 18th century, Robert Harding and Ferdinand Farmer from Philadelphia traveled across the province of New Jersey, ministering to Catholics at Mount Hope, Macopin, Basking Ridge, Trenton and Ringwood.

Vianney, Tissorant, and Malou traveled to New Jersey from St. Peter's Parish in New York City to provide ministry.

[9] Having limited funds to operated the diocese, Bayley appealed to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Lyon, France for assistance in 1854.

"[18] At the time of his consecration as a bishop, the diocese had 121 priests, 83 churches, 18,396 students enrolled in diocesan schools, and a Catholic population of 145,000.

[19] In 1883, he moved the Catholic Protectory from Danville to Mount Arlington and established the Sacred Heart Union to aid in its maintenance.

The brewers in the diocese were generally German and the saloon keepers predominantly Irish, but some viewed Wigger's hostility to alcoholic beverages as having an anti-Irish bias.

Wigger held the fifth diocesan synod in November 1886, which enacted strict regulations on Catholic funerals and attendance at parochial and public schools.

[23] In 1903, O'Connor condemned the oath of the International Typographical Union and forbade Catholics from taking it, saying, "A man owes his allegiance first to God.

[25] In 1926, fear of automobile crashes prompted O'Connor to prohibit diocesan priests from owning or driving motor vehicles, except in rural parishes.

In January 1969, a group of 20 priests of the archdiocese accused Boland of adopting a "white racist attitude" toward African Americans".

Bishop Peter Gerety from the Diocese of Portland was the third archbishop of Newark, appointed by Pope Paul VI in 1974.

[38] In November 1981, Pope John Paul II erected the Diocese of Metuchen, designating it as an suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Newark.

[44] In 2004, Myers criticized a group of law students at Seton Hall University for honoring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, objecting because she allegedly favored abortion rights for women.

[45] In September 2013, Pope Francis named Bishop Bernard Hebda as coadjutor archbishop of the archdiocese to assist Myers.

In February 2014, The New York Times reported that Myers planned to retire to a 7,500-foot so-called "palace", expanded at his direction in Pittstown.

When Myers retired in late 2016, Francis named Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis to replace him.

"[52] In September 2021, the archdiocese broke ground on a new St. Lucy's Homeless Housing and Support Services Site in Jersey City.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin officiated the final concelebrated Solemn Mass for the 110-year Bergen Point Saint Andrews the Apostle Catholic Church in 10 West 4th Street, 125 Broadway, Bayonne at 3 p.m. September 22, 2024.

Andrew M. Egan, pastor of Saint Mary, Star of the Sea, in Bayonne, its construction began in 1922 and was dedicated by Bishop John J. O’Connor.

[55] In 2001, Michael Fugee, an archdiocese priest at St. Elizabeth's Parish in Wyckoff, was accused of molesting a 14-year-old boy on multiple occasions in the 1990s.

[58] In August 2016, Kevin Gugliotta, an archdiocesan priest, was arrested for possession of child pornography after detectives traced an upload he made of these materials to a chat room.

Gugliotta later told probation officers that he uploaded the pornography because he was angry with God for causing him to lose at poker tournaments.

[63] In March 2019, a New Jersey man sued the archdiocese, claiming that he had been sexually abused by Gugliotta at St. Bartholomew the Apostle Parish in Scotch Plains.

"[66][67] In July 2018, The New York Times reported that Robert Ciolek, a former priest, had received an $80,000 settlement in 2004 from the archdiocese and two other New Jersey dioceses.

[68] In September 2018, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that its investigation of McCarrick would include his tenure as archbishop of Newark.

Cardinal Tobin also acknowledged that the alleged acts of abuse committed by the clergy listed were reported to law enforcement agencies.

[71] In December 2019, a new law went into effect in state of New Jersey that allowed some of McCarrick's alleged victims to file lawsuits against him and the archdiocese.

[73][74] By February 2020, according to a New Jersey attorney, the five Catholic dioceses in the state had paid over $11 million to compensate 105 claims of sex abuse committed by clergy.

[75] America Magazine reported that the archdiocese and two other New Jersey dioceses had been making secret payments to victims of abuse by McCarrick since 2005.