John Kuhlthau: Faith and Works

The Honorable John S. Kuhlthau, a PUMC member, will speak at the breakfast sponsored by the United Methodist Men on Sunday, April 9, at 8 a.m. He will give a talk titled “Faith and Works — as Judge and Layman.“  All are welcome, a $5 donation is encouraged.

John and Carol Kuhlthau

John is a Methodist through and through. A graduate of Princeton University (Class of 1958) he went to Wesley Foundation meetings at Princeton UMC, and later served as Trustee Chair. He and Carol Collier Kuhlthau were married here. He attended Drew Theological Seminary, earned his J.D. at Rutgers University Law School, and served as Public Defender and as Middlesex County Prosecutor. But he felt called to resign and devote full-time, on behalf of the Methodist Church, to the bipartisan ‘Casinos – No Dice’ campaign, working closely with Rev. Jack Johnson in church meetings and shopping malls with youth volunteers.”Casino gambling was defeated on its first referendum, but of course, it was re-designed and the voters approved,” says John.

Meanwhile his law firm helped shepherd the union of three UMC churches in New Brunswick. Returning to public service, he sat as a Judge for 22 years, most recently in Superior Court. He and Carol moved to Princeton and joined PrincetonUMC. when he retired. Among his current projects is the annual John Suydam Kuhlthau Bioethics Conference at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. His most recent honor is the Order of the Tower at The Pennington School.