CV NEWS FEED // New Jersey politicians and survivors of clergy sex abuse are calling for the resignation of Seton Hall University’s new president, Monsignor Joseph Reilly, amid claims that he knew about cases of sexual abuse during the 2018 McCarrick scandal and did not report them.
POLITICO reported that an implicating memo from 2019 did not accuse Msgr. Reilly of abusing anyone, but that it instead named him in a summary of the results of an investigation of sexual abuse allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The investigation was sponsored in 2018 by Seton Hall.
While the alleged cover-ups of clergy sex abuse did not take place during Msgr. Reilly’s presidency at Seton Hall, a role he assumed in November 2024, New Jersey politicians and clergy sex abuse victims say that he has no place in such a role at the university.
POLITICO reported that according to the memo, Msgr. Reilly previously served as the rector and dean of Seton Hall’s Immaculate Conception Seminary and had “investigated a student complaint of sexual assault ‘in house’ and did not report it or follow the school and federal Title IX policies and procedures.”
“It also said Reilly dismissed a seminarian in 2012 who was an alleged victim of sexual abuse without investigating the incident or escalating the matter, a violation of university policy,” POLITICO reported.
A similar case reportedly occurred in 2014, when Msgr. Reilly did not report an alleged sexual harassment case at Saint Andrew’s College Seminary, which is a part of Seton Hall.
Msgr. Reilly was also formerly McCarrick’s priest secretary. POLITICO reported that when investigators of the McCarrick scandal discovered Msgr. Reilly’s failure to report the allegations, they recommended that the school remove him from his position at the seminary, as well as his position on university boards.
“Instead, he took a yearlong sabbatical, returned as a vice provost and, in November [2024], formally became president of the New Jersey school,” POLITICO reported.
Now, New Jersey politicians and clergy sex abuse victims want Msgr. Reilly to resign from his presidency, and they have called for Seton Hall to release the investigators’ report.
“I simply have no tolerance for the normalization of sexual assault or support for those who cover up acts of predators. I have college-aged kids; this reporting is deeply disturbing to me,” Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill said, according to POLITICO.
Sherrill is running for governor of New Jersey, and Seton Hall is located within her district.
“Seton Hall needs to address this situation immediately and can start by publicly releasing the findings of their investigation and recommendations related to Monsignor Reilly,” she added.
Andrew Zwicker, the Democratic vice chair of the New Jersey state Senate Higher Education Committee, called for anyone on the university boards who knew about the allegations to resign. SNAP and BishopAccountability.org, organizations for survivors of clergy sex abuse, both demanded that the investigation’s findings about Msgr. Reilly and other priests also named in the report be released.
“They need some kind of external oversight. How many times is Seton Hall going to go through this process of being caught promoting and protecting enablers?” said Anne Barrett Doyle, who serves on BishopAccountability.org’s board of directors. “I hope that the students and the faculty put a lot of pressure on the administration to remove Msgr. Reilly and release that report. It’s not information that the administration is entitled to keep to itself.”
While POLITICO reported that Seton Hall has not responded for comment on calls for Msgr. Reilly’s resignation, the outlet noted the university said in December 2024 that Msgr. Reilly “shares the University’s unwavering commitment to fostering a safe and supportive environment for all members of our campus community.”
POLITICO also reported that Seton Hall supported Msgr. Reilly’s promotion to university president, stating in December that “he has demonstrated a complete commitment to academic excellence and championed the infusion of our Catholic identity into all aspects of university life.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark also supported the promotion, POLITICO reported, as he told Msgr. Reilly during the investiture ceremony in November that he has “no doubt that you’re the right person at the right time for Seton Hall.”