Monsignor Joseph Reilly steps into the role of Seton Hall’s 22nd president — guided by faith and an open heart.
Stepping down from the podium at the November 4 ceremonies marking his investiture as the University’s 22nd president, Monsignor Joseph Reilly S.T.L., Ph.D., moved closer to the audience to share three aspects of his life that have made him who he is: a deep love for Jesus Christ, his vocation as a priest and an enduring passion for Seton Hall.
“Half of my life has been spent here,” he said, referencing his arrival as a Seton Hall Prep student in 1979. “It was here, in this place, where I discovered the passion and purpose of my life as a priest. But Seton Hall is not simply a place of three campuses.
“It is a community of people, with fundamental beliefs about God, the human person, the world and the values that underlie all of those things that are founded in faith. This is what sustains each one of us in our lives here at Seton Hall.”
As the first priest-president in 14 years, he intends to bring renewed strategic vision and Catholic spirituality to the role.
The job of a university president, perhaps especially at a Catholic institution, has evolved into a labyrinth of roles and responsibilities, but he looks to bring as simplified an approach as possible, always focusing on the teachings of Jesus and the graces of God.
A Guiding Faith
Monsignor Reilly asks the Holy Spirit, always, for guidance, he says, noting that it “helps us in our weakness” and that God always supplies what is needed in any situation. People also need to lean into their weaknesses and shortcomings, he says, and rely on the Spirit to lift and sustain them.
He has been inspired by Saint Maximilian Kolbe since prep school, when he read A Man for Others: Maximilian Kolbe the “Saint of Auschwitz” by Patricia Treece (1982, Harper & Row). Imprisoned in a concentration camp during World War II, Father Kolbe stepped forward to take the place of a younger man with a family who was about to be sent to the gas chamber, thereby sacrificing his own life.
When asked by the German camp commandant who he was and why he would stand in the condemned man’s place, Kolbe said, “I’m a Catholic priest.”
This struck the teenage Joe Reilly as the essence and fundamental statement of the priestly vocation, that the Catholic priest should be “a man for others.”
And yet, knowing that living as a minister of the Gospel and servant in the community comes at a cost, Monsignor Reilly notes that “prayer, prayer, prayer to Saint Therese” is a constant in his life. Therese of Lisieux, a doctor of the Church, is recognized for having said “My vocation is love,” and commonly known as the Little Flower.
“Over and over, I have received inspiration from Saint Therese,” he says. “She loves priests and supports priests as a friend in heaven.”
‘God Anticipates’
Since his ordination for the Archdiocese of Newark in 1991, Monsignor Reilly has walked a path that has led him and those he has served, he prays, to the ever greater fulfillment of Seton Hall’s mission.
He was selected as a Missionary of Mercy — much to his surprise — by Pope Francis and installed to the role in Rome during the Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015. The assignment is one of accompaniment and spreading the mercy of God to Catholic communities around the globe.
The appointment, which has been extended for a second term, brought him to two gatherings in Rome and to parish missions and churches throughout the United States and “put me in ministerial situations to minister in the Lord’s name.”
“It has benefited me as a person and a priest, manifested the depth of God’s mercy in my life, and has transformed the way I experience and see the priesthood,” he says.
The surprise of the appointment was important to him. “God anticipated what I would need in the future, in my ministry,” he notes. “I did not know then why I was chosen or what I would gain from the experience.”
Now he sees how it was part of his formation for the role of Seton Hall’s president. “God anticipates,” he says.
Leading With an ‘Open Door’ and an ‘Open Heart’
According to Monsignor Reilly, higher education is “a collaborative effort.”
“Trust people around you; my role is to trust and encourage,” he says.
Members of the faculty and administrative staff who have worked closely with him cite his strong work ethic; mission-driven approach; pastoral care and concern for others; approachability and, universally, acknowledge his humor.
When he became rector/dean of Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology in 2012, he pledged to bring “transparency” and “community” to the job, with a policy to have an “open door” and an “open heart.”
He immediately announced he would accompany the team on a seminary staff retreat, an unexpected and greatly appreciated move that demonstrated his sincere desire to be with the staff in prayer.
“He invites people into prayer,” says Dianne Traflet, J.D., S.T.D., associate dean of the seminary and a longtime co-worker. “He leads and speaks from the heart as well as intellect. Prayer is a means of demonstrating the transparency and fostering the spirit of community he seeks.
“He loves people and thoroughly enjoys true conversations — conversations as adventure,” she says. “He is a natural encourager and leads to a great degree by encouragement.”
Mary Meehan ’72/M.A. ’74/Ph.D. ’01 served as Seton Hall’s interim president from 2017 to 19, having been an administrator and executive vice president of the University before being appointed president of Alverno College in Milwaukee. She knew young Joe Reilly before he was ordained, and then during his tenure as rector when she was interim president.
“I met Monsignor Reilly in 1983 when he was a freshman at Seton Hall, and I was a member of the formation team at Saint Andrew’s College Seminary,” she says. “Among so many gifted and committed young men, he stood out and left a lasting impression on me. It was clear to the formation team that Joe Reilly was someone to watch in the coming years. He was smart, determined and passionate about his beliefs. Thoughtful and reserved most of the time, he was not shy in expressing his ideas about those things that were most precious to him.
“I am thrilled to know the University will now have the benefit of his unswerving commitment to our Catholic mission in his new role,” Meehan says. “I look forward to more great things to come under his leadership.”
Guiding Principles
Monsignor Reilly shares “three realities” that have guided his thinking and actions, from his college seminary days to today:
Person — Develop self-knowledge in order to “accept and answer God’s call.” He says, “One’s personhood is the ultimate gift of a gracious God.”
Passion — “I discovered that the passion of my life is Jesus Christ,” he says, “who He is for me and in me, my Lord and brother.”
Place — God chose to enter the world in a historic time and place, a critical truth of the plan for our salvation, he says, noting that Seton Hall “is a critical place of encounter with God, where we hear His call.”
Greg Tobin, M.A. ’06, is the author of The Good Pope and Conclave.
