An independent review commissioned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark (RCAN) concluded that Seton Hall President Monsignor Joseph Reilly engaged in no misconduct related to allegations tied to former Newark archbishop and later cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The 33-page report, prepared by the law firm Ropes & Gray and released July 1, also found that prior communications and confidential letters criticizing Reilly’s conduct contained significant inaccuracies and mischaracterizations.
The review was commissioned in 2025, only nine days after a Politico report published two confidential letters from a Special Task Force established by SHU’s Board of Regents. Those letters alleged Reilly mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct and recommended his removal from seminary leadership, reigniting questions about whether SHU had adequately addressed the matter before elevating Reilly to the presidency in April 2024.
Central to the report is the interpretation of earlier investigations, particularly the 2019 Latham & Watkins review commissioned by SHU in 2018 to examine allegations involving McCarrick and the university’s institutional response.
After reviewing university records, correspondence, prior investigative material and conducting interviews with university and church officials, Ropes & Gray rejected claims that the Latham report implicated Reilly in misconduct.
“This Report first considers the extent to which the Latham Report made any findings whatsoever about Monsignor Reilly,” the report states. “In short, it made none.”
The review adds that references to Reilly in the Latham report were limited and largely procedural, tied to efforts to improve communication between SHU, Immaculate Conception Seminary (ICS) and the Archdiocese of Newark.
It further concludes that Reilly “has never been personally accused of sexual misconduct” and was not found to have obstructed or ignored allegations in prior investigations.
The findings also come amid ongoing legal disputes over access to the Latham report. A New Jersey appeals court recently ruled that most of SHU’s internal McCarrick report would remain shielded from public release, ordering only partial disclosure.
McCarrick, who served as archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000 before becoming archbishop of Washington and later a cardinal, was removed from the priesthood in 2019 after allegations of sexual abuse spanning decades. Since SHU’s seminary trained priests for the Archdiocese of Newark during his tenure, the university became central to broader scrutiny of church leadership and oversight.
The report details Reilly’s interactions with McCarrick during the mid-1990s, when he served as one of several rotating priest secretaries.
According to the report, the role involved scheduling, correspondence and other administrative responsibilities, rather than close personal interaction. Reilly said that outside of professional duties, he had "very limited personal interactions" with McCarrick, a characterization corroborated by other clergy who served in similar positions and described Reilly as maintaining "a professional distance" from the former cardinal.
The review found Reilly never witnessed sexual misconduct by McCarrick and that no allegations were ever reported to him.
However, investigators did find that Reilly was aware of longstanding rumors that McCarrick shared beds with seminarians during trips to a beach house in Sea Girt, New Jersey.
The report notes that Reilly visited the house once before serving as McCarrick's secretary and stayed in a downstairs bedroom. However, investigators pointed to findings in the Vatican's 2020 McCarrick report that the practice of bed sharing was widely known among seminary leaders and staff and was understood at the time to be "non-sexual and consensual."
The review also recounts a separate incident in which Reilly delivered mail to McCarrick's room and McCarrick answered the door wearing only a T-shirt and underwear. Reilly said he considered the encounter unusual, but not sexual in nature.
Another portion of the report examines a 2012 incident involving two seminarians at ICS. Shortly after becoming rector and dean, Reilly learned of allegations that one seminarian had made unwanted sexual advances toward another. He immediately confronted and interviewed the accused student, ultimately dismissing him from the seminary for conduct “inconsistent with expectations of a candidate for priesthood.”
He notified diocesan officials, faculty and RCAN of the incident and dismissal, though the report notes he did not inform SHU’s Title IX coordinator, as required by university policy at the time. Investigators attributed this to insufficient training, finding he had not yet completed Title IX instruction when the incident occurred.
“This was an unintentional error attributable in significant part to his lack of training on Seton Hall’s reporting requirements before 2013,” the report states.
Investigators found no evidence of any attempt to conceal the incident.
In an email to the university community following the report’s release, Reilly acknowledged that while he believed he had handled the complaint appropriately by investigating the allegation, dismissing the seminarian and informing the Archdiocese, he should have also notified the university’s Title IX office.
"I am comforted the Ropes & Gray report affirmed what I have known to be true all along," Reilly wrote. "While I now understand there was an additional reporting process to follow, I never hesitated in acting to address this behavior."
The report also references a 2014 incident at St. Andrew’s Hall (SAH), SHU’s undergraduate seminary, in which a faculty member was removed following allegations of inappropriate conduct toward another adult member of the seminary community. No students or minors were involved.
At the time, Reilly was serving as Rector/Dean of ICS, not in a leadership role at SAH. Investigators found no evidence he was involved in or had first-hand knowledge of the matter, and noted the Latham review did not identify any misconduct by him in connection with the incident.
Outside counsel Gibbons P.C. interviewed Reilly in January 2020, and he maintained he had no involvement. Following that review, SHU determined no further action was warranted, and investigators credited Reilly’s account that he had no role in or knowledge of the 2014 SAH matter.
Later, as the Latham investigation into McCarrick neared completion, the 2012 and 2014 incidents resurfaced. After the seminarian dismissed in 2012 alleged that he had actually been the victim of harassment and had been denied due process in connection with his removal from the seminary, SHU retained another law firm, Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, to conduct a separate investigation. That investigation concluded in March 2020 and found that ICS “did not follow Seton Hall’s reporting and investigatory protocols.”
The report also scrutinizes the confidential letters issued by the Special Task Force in 2019 and 2020, finding they mischaracterized earlier findings and recommendations.
The November 2019 letter stated that Latham found Reilly failed to report the 2012 harassment allegations and suggested he declined to cooperate regarding the 2014 SAH matter. It also asserted that a Responsive Action Plan recommended his removal from seminary leadership and university boards.
The Feb. 18, 2020, letter repeated claims regarding the 2012 incident but stated that, because Reilly had participated in a Gibbons interview in January 2020, the prior finding related to the 2014 SAH matter was “no longer applicable.” Despite that revision, the letter reiterated recommendations that Reilly be removed from seminary leadership and university boards.
Investigators determined these claims were inaccurate: Latham never examined the 2012 incident, and the 2014 SAH matter did not result in any finding of misconduct involving Reilly. Additionally, the report concludes that the Responsive Action Plan did not recommend removal but instead considered a restructuring of leadership roles that was never implemented. The 2020 letter was also found never to have been finalized or sent.
Following the Latham review, SHU implemented governance reforms, including expanded Title IX training, compliance tracking across schools and a deputy Title IX coordinator at the seminary.
In an email to the university community, Reilly highlighted those reforms, including increased support services, private reporting options both on and off campus, mandatory Title IX training and background checks for resident assistant candidates.
In June 2020, Reilly sent a letter to Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Chair of the Board of Trustees and President of the Board of Regents, acknowledging his reporting obligations and explaining that he had not understood those requirements at the time of the 2012 incident. He also affirmed that subsequent training had clarified those obligations and pledged compliance going forward.
University leadership treated the matter as resolved, and the Board of Regents confirmed that position the same month. Reilly remained in his leadership roles and was later promoted to vice provost for academics and Catholic identity in 2023.
The report also examines Reilly’s 2024 presidential selection process, finding that while background and reference checks were conducted and the Archdiocese of Newark issued a letter of suitability, the search committee did not collectively review internal investigative records related to him. Several members were reportedly unaware of his connection to earlier investigations.
“No Search Committee members recalled any discussion of the Latham Report or any related investigations during the Committee’s consideration of Monsignor Reilly. The Search Committee never collectively evaluated whether Seton Hall’s prior investigations into Monsignor Reilly had been adequately resolved, nor did the Committee assess the underlying findings or conclusions of those investigations,” the report states.
Additionally, according to the report, neither Cardinal Tobin nor any members of the Search Committee were briefed on the Nukk-Freeman investigation and consequently did not consider its findings in the hiring process.
Before the final vote, board leadership sought assurances from university officials and the Archdiocese of Newark that there were no unresolved issues involving Reilly.
Those assurances were provided, and the Board of Regents voted in March 2024 to elect Reilly as SHU’s 22nd president.
Following publication of the report, Board of Regents Chair Hank D'Alessandro said the board remained "fully confident" in Reilly's leadership and that the findings validated its longstanding support for him.
"When faced with a difficult situation in 2012, Monsignor Reilly promptly investigated the incident, found the claim credible, and immediately dismissed the offending seminarian," D'Alessandro wrote in an email to the university community.
D'Alessandro also said the board supported reforms adopted since 2019, including expanded training, additional Title IX staffing and new reporting mechanisms.
The report concludes that while Reilly failed to comply with university reporting procedures in 2012, the matter had been resolved years before his election as president and did not involve allegations of sexual misconduct, knowledge of misconduct by McCarrick or attempts to conceal information.
The findings largely clear Reilly while highlighting broader questions about transparency and how prior investigations were weighed during a presidential search shaped by the legacy of the McCarrick scandal.
Reilly, meanwhile, said he remains focused on the university's future.
"I am fully committed to seeing our community thrive and continue to progress as one of the nation's leading Catholic universities," he wrote. "I will continue to enlist my faith, my education and my experiences to do what is right to further foster a safe and nurturing environment in which all Setonians can flourish."
Megan Pitt is the Editor-in-Chief of The Setonian. She can be reached at megan.pitt@student.shu.edu.
