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Seton Hall announces ‘independent review’ of seminary accusations

.- Seton Hall University has announced an independent review of accusations of sexual abuse and harassment against seminarians. The university is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Newark, and is home to Immaculate Conception Seminary and St. Andrew’s Hall college seminary.

In a letter published on the university website on Tuesday, Aug. 22, Seton Hall President Mary J. Meehan wrote that recent reports of sexual abuse and harassment by priests, and the “reported failure of many in the Church’s leadership to hold them accountable,” had prompted the university to take action.

“We at the University are particularly concerned with recent accusations against Theodore McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Newark, and other priests of the Archdiocese. Some of these alleged incidents may have involved seminarians at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology and the College Seminary at Saint Andrew’s Hall.”

A spokesperson for Seton Hall told CNA that the impetus for the investigation came from Meehan’s office.

The president of Seton Hall’s board of trustees is by virtue of office the Archbishop of Newark, now Cardinal Joseph Tobin. From 1986 – 2001, the archdiocese was led by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick.

On August 17, CNA published a report detailing a series of allegations made by priests in the Archdiocese of Newark. Some of their accounts related to Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, others detailed allegations of recent or ongoing behavior at the two seminaries, including a specific allegation concerning a former rector of St. Andrew’s Hall.

One allegation raised by the CNA report related to Fr. Mark O’Malley, who was removed as rector of St. Andrew’s Hall in 2014 and placed on a medical leave of absence. Multiple sources told CNA that O’Malley’s removal followed an incident in which he allegedly hid a camera in the bedroom of a young priest.

Read more at Catholic News Agency. 

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