Seton Hall University is once again wrapped up in a scandal involving its leadership, this time for appointing Monsignor Joseph Riley as the school's new president.

Riley was a long time seminary leader and influential figure at the Catholic University, who quietly stepped down in 2022 after decades with the school.

But as first reported by Politico NJ, an internal investigation revealed Riley knew of sexual abuse allegations against the now disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, but never reported them.

McCarrick was defrocked by Pope Francis after allegations of sexual misconduct with seminarians and minors over decades were found to be credible.

For more on the fallout, I'm joined by Dustin Racioppi, O.P., who broke the story for Politico.

Dustin, good to talk to you.

A bombshell piece, I'll say.

What can you tell us?

Let's start here with just the specific allegations that were made against Monsignor Riley when it came to the internal investigation that ultimately led for him to be removed from the school.

Yeah.

The context for this is that, former archbishop of New York, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, because of his relationship to Seton Hall and because of the allegations against him, the university conducted this internal review.

And among, about 12 priests.

Monsignor Riley was one of them.

He was not accused of any sort of abuse, but he allegedly knew about instances of reported abuse and he didn't report them.

And that's in violation of, Seton Hall policies as well as federal title nine policies.

That's according to investigators.

They also said that he was not initially fully compliant with investigators when they when they saw interviews with him.

He later followed up and did.

And he offered up some information about another, some rumors that he had heard about alleged harassment or abuse, but it was nothing related to what the investigators had previously found.

Going back to 2012, in two separate instances.

Wow.

So so all of this, right?

I mean, eventually leads in 2022 for him to be removed as a seminary leader.

And yet here we are, end of 2024.

He's being put into this perch as the university president.

What led to this decision to reinstate him?

Do we know?

Well, Seton Hall doesn't offer much clarity on this.

I've asked repeatedly what happened behind the scenes.

Was he cleared in any way or did something happen, where the board felt, comfortable elevating him to the highest position possible at the university?

Didn't get a full, clear answer on that, except that the university and its, Board of Regents chair.

They fully support him.

But it's still not clear.

I mean, the the recommendation and through a responsive action plan years ago, was anybody who knew about alleged sexual harassment or abuse could not hold leadership positions at Seton Hall.

Yeah.

And so is the board of members of the Board of Regents.

Are they defending their decision?

Have they given you any factors that may have played a role here?

I mean, you mentioned that he helped, I guess, cooperate with leading investigators to some other information.

But, I mean, we're we're talking about sexual abuse and sexual harassment allegations.

Yeah.

It's, when we're talking about those things and the Catholic Church, there's a feeling of deja vu all over again.

So it would be nice to have answers from the university, sort of a full accounting of what happened.

But we just don't have that.

Like I said, the the board chairman for the board of Regents, which is the university's governing body, he gave his full throated support in a statement for Monsignor Riley.

And that's where we stand today.

What's the reaction been like, Dustin, from survivors advocates, just from the Seton Hall community at large.

A lot of the advocates, are upset.

They want to see the internal investigation by Seton Hall.

They want to see it released because there are 10 or 11 other priests who are named in that report.

We don't know what's happened to them.

We don't know if they've been removed.

We don't know if they've been moved around to other areas of the state which we have seen before.

So they want to see some accountability and transparency from the university.

I mean, Monsignor Riley was there for 45 years.

Right.

I mean, he was a student.

He sort of rose through the ranks.

I mean, just how much influence did he have at one point?

And for a period of time, he was very influential.

Basically seeing overseeing the seminary that trains, students for the priesthood.

It's a very influential position.

And again, he's not accused himself of of wrongdoing.

I just want to make that clear.

So he's not implicated way.

And by all accounts, from what I've heard, he's a very nice guy, very intelligent.

And that's what the university says about him.

Regardless of that, the findings are what they are.

Dustin Racioppi before us, Dustin, thanks so much.

Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.