The community of Seton Hall University, together with community and government officials and representatives from colleges and universities across the nation, gathered on Nov. 4 for a Mass and ceremony to mark the investiture of Msgr. Joseph R. Reilly, as the university’s 22nd president.
Msgr. Reilly’s appointment marks the return of a priest-president to Seton Hall, which has been a hallmark of the university for 146 years of its 168-year history. He began his new post on July 1.
“He brings to the presidency a deep understanding of Seton Hall’s identity as a leading Catholic university and a robust vision to elevate its standing among the leading institutions in American higher education,” according to Seton Hall.
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., chair of Seton Hall’s Board of Trustees, president of the Board of Regents, and archbishop of the Newark Archdiocese, was celebrant and homilist of the investiture Mass and addressed the investiture ceremony. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Paterson Diocese was among the many Mass concelebrants.
“Msgr. Reilly’s selection as Seton Hall’s leader follows decades of devoted service to the university and its students and, through them, to the world. I am confident his presidency will produce even more remarkable achievements,” Cardinal Tobin said in his address.
In investiture address, Msgr. Reilly said, “Half of my life has been spent here. [Seton Hall] is a place of encounter, of education, of enrichment, of empathy, edification, and equity. It was here, in this place, where I discovered the passion and purpose for my life as a priest. But it is not simply a place of three campuses. Seton Hall is a community of people with fundamental beliefs about God, the human person, the world, and the values that underly all of those things that are founded in faith. This sustains each of us in our lives here at Seton Hall.”
Msgr. Reilly continued, “My deep desire as I begin my service as a priest-president here at Seton Hall is that I would like to be able to, like Jesus Christ, to make a gift of myself in service to the community.”
About Msgr. Reilly, Seton Hall’s new president
A Mountainside native, Msgr. Reilly attended Seton Hall Prep and graduated from Seton Hall University in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He was ordained a priest of the Newark Archdiocese in 1991. He was a parochial vicar of St. Paul Parish in Ramsey and St. Andrew Parish in Bayonne.
In 1995, Msgr. Reilly became a faculty member and chaplain at Seton Hall Prep. Seven years later, he returned to the university as rector of the College Seminary at St. Andrew’s Hall.
In 2012, Msgr. Reilly was named rector/dean of the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, where he served until 2022. During this period, he also served on the Board of Trustees.
After a year’s sabbatical, Msgr. Reilly was appointed Seton Hall’s vice provost of academics and Catholic identity, his most recent post.
Msgr. Reilly has belonged to the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, Archdio-cesan Vocations Board, and Seton Hall Board of Trustees.
St. John Paul II named him a monsignor in 2005. Pope Francis appointed him a Missionary of Mercy in 2015.
Msgr. Reilly has belonged to the Faithful Citizenship Strategy Committee and Catholic Social Teaching Task Force of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
He earned a bachelor of sacred theology from Pontifi-cal Gregorian University in Rome, a licentiate in sacred theology from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum in Rome, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from Fordham University.
— Laurie Pine/Seton Hall University
