[4] Responding to the population growth in New Jersey, the Vatican in 1853 erected the Diocese of Newark, taking its territory from Philadelphia and New York.

[7] He also oversaw the development of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, and the Bishop's Annual Appeal McCarrick also established ministries for African-Americans, Hispanics, anti-abortion rights activities, and the disabled.

John Paul II in 1997 appointed Monsignor Vincent Breen from the Diocese of Brooklyn as the next bishop of Metuchen.

In 2005, the diocese created the Diocesan Youth Day hired a full-time vocations director, and opened the House of Discernment for men considering the priesthood.

After Bootkoski retired in 2016, Pope Francis appointed Monsignor James Checchio, rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, as the new bishop of Metuchen.

In August 1997, police arrested Michael Santillo, who served at St. Mary's Church in Perth Amboy before leaving the priesthood in 1992.

[13] Reverend John M. Banko from Mary Mother of God Church in Hillsborough was charged in August 2001 with first- degree aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment.

That same year, he approved an $800,000 settlement to ten victims of sexual abuse by five clergy, including Santillo and Banko.

[17] According to Cardinal Donald Wuerl, nobody from the Diocese of Metuchen informed him of these settlements, even after the retired McCarrick began living on the grounds of a seminary in the Archdiocese of Washington.

[18] Reverend Tomasz Adam Zielinski from Christ King Church in Manville was arrested on sexual assault charges in July 2008.

A 16 year old girl who had been sitting next to Zielinski on a flight from Poland to the United States accused him of fondling her and attempting to unzip her pants.

At this time, it was revealed that in 2005 and 2007, the Diocese of Metuchen, along with the Archdiocese of Newark, secretly paid financial settlements to Clolek and another priest abused by McCarrick.

In February 2019, the diocese released a list of 11 clergy with credible accusations of sexual abuse against minors.

[22] In December 2019, the New Jersey Legislature passed a law allowing a two-year legal lookback window, enabling sexual abuse lawsuits that were previously barred by the statute of limitations.

[28] The plaintiff revealed that the Diocese of Metuchen owned a beach house in Sea Girt on the Jersey Shore where McCarrick and other priests engaged in “open and obvious criminal sexual conduct” .