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CV NEWS FEED // Seton Hall University has appointed Monsignor Joseph Reilly as its 22nd president, restoring the school’s tradition of having a priest as its leader and bringing the University’s board of regents’ 8-month-long search to a close.
“I cannot wait to engage our community as together we strive to bring new life to the timeless Catholic mission that makes Seton Hall unique among American universities,” Monsignor Reilly said after the April 3 announcement.
According to a report from The Setonian, the school’s bylaws state that the University’s president must be a Roman Catholic priest but also that exceptions may be made so long as the candidate is a practicing Roman Catholic, as was the case with the University’s last president, Joseph Nyre, who resigned last year.
Reilly is a Mountainside, New Jersey native. He was ordained in the Archdiocese of Newark in 1991. He graduated from Seton Hall in 1987 after attending the University’s prep school. Reilly has since held several high-level positions at the University, including rector and dean of the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, vice provost of academics and Catholic identity, and board trustee. He was chaplain to Pope Saint John Paul II in 2005 and a Missionary of Mercy for Pope Francis in 2015.
“In my service with Monsignor Reilly on the board of trustees, he impressed me with his abiding faith, keen intellect and genuine care for the entire university,” said Archbishop of Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who is chair of the board of trustees and president of the board of regents.
