Two Recent Catholic College Sex Scandals

In recent weeks, two disclosures about sexual abuse, assault, complicity, and cover-up involving Catholic universities came to light.

Both on the east coast, one occurred at the well-known Seton Hall University in New Jersey and the other at Elms College in Massachusetts.

Promoting Someone Who Knew About Abuse: Seton Hall University

Monsignor Joseph Reilly started as a student at Seton Hall University decades ago and rose up in the prestigious Catholic institution, eventually becoming the school president. For years, Msgr. Reilly was close to the now-disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick was the highest-ranking prelate in the United States – being elevated to a cardinal in 2001 – to ever be defrocked due to child sexual abuse reports. He’s also accused of ignoring and enabling the crimes of other predatory clerics.

Reilly served as a secretary during the last years of McCarrick’s time at Seton Hall. While Reilly isn’t said to have committed any abuse, he was implicated in a secret report conducted by Seton Hall University into abuse on its campus. Investigative reporting by POLITICO said, “Reilly knew of sexual abuse allegations that he did not report.”

That document, given to university leadership just a handful of years before Reilly left for a sabbatical in 2022, recommended Reilly be removed for his failure to disclose his knowledge of McCarrick’s sexual abuse. McCarrick’s first reported abuse occurred in 1971.

Reilly, nonetheless, came back to Seton Hall after his sabbatical. Then, less than two years after the report was given to university leadership, Seton Hall University gave Reilly the reins of the school, naming him president.

“Less than three years after he stepped aside, Seton Hall has decided to ignore those findings, restoring Reilly to active service and, in recent weeks, formally elevating him to the most powerful position possible: university president.” – POLITICO, Dustin Racioppi

“Did they think that what happened is never going to come back?” asked an anonymous source in the POLITICO story, commenting on McCarrick’s legacy at the school. “Did they think it was going to disappear? It didn’t.”

According to records obtained by POLITICO, “Investigators, while not accusing him of abuse, recommended, pursuant to a responsive action plan the school’s governing body adopted, Reilly be removed as a seminary leader and member of university boards.”

That was a mere three years ago.

Seton Hall ignored that warning and, in November’s investiture ceremony, said Reilly “had the ‘the voice of a shepherd.’”

Analyze Your Classmate’s Sexual Abuse Lawsuit: The Massachusetts Case

Imagine: you’re sitting in sociology class, when you’re told to read documents from a lawsuit.

As you’re handed the complaints by the professor, she asks you to identify the victims and “assess the credibility of” two sexual assault lawsuits.

Then it hits you: the lawsuit you’ve just been given is about your school. Your classmates.

In Massachusetts, a college professor told students to read, discuss, and analyze a pending lawsuit (i.e., a recently filed and still-active case) about the alleged abuse of two students. It gets worse. And weirder.

What prompted the professor to make this bizarre assignment?

The amended lawsuit says she acted in response to a statement to faculty by the college president “telling them to support their fellow faculty members after the Plaintiff filed a lawsuit,” according to the NEPM article.

Let that sink in.

The head of the school sent a statement to his employees – professors – about a pending case, encouraging support for faculty rather than the pursuit of the truth.

He did not encourage them to keep their minds open and not rush to judgment. He did not ask them to report any information they came to know. He did not ask to respect the privacy of the accusers or the accused. Nor did he encourage students to do likewise.

Whether it is protecting abusers, ignoring red flags, or responding inappropriately to sexual abuse reports, one thing is clear – many universities have a long way to go regarding preventing abuse and protecting survivors, not abusers.