Monsignor Gerard McCarren has been appointed as the rector and dean of the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, according to an official announcement on March 27 by the Archdiocese of Newark and Seton Hall.
McCarren previously served as the interim rector and dean of the school and was also formerly an associate professor of systematic theology. Furthermore, McCarren taught at the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Nebraska, and he is known as a scholar of Saint John Henry Newman. He consequently became a member of the Newman Association of America’s board of directors.
“We are grateful to Monsignor McCarren for his leadership, spiritual service and devotion to preparing men for the priesthood with support of an outstanding formation and academic faculty,” President Joseph E. Nyre said in the University announcement. “Nothing is more important for the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology than helping seminarians affirm the Lord’s call to a priestly vocation.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, said that McCarren is a “well-respected priest, theologian, and spiritual director, with a depth of pastoral experience that will allow him to continue our vital mission of supporting the seminarians from the Archdiocese and other dioceses as they discern God’s call to the priesthood.”
McCarren earned a B.A. from Yale University with majors in history and philosophy, according to the announcement. McCarren was ordained to the priesthood in 1991 and then served as a Vatican appointee to the Joint Commission for Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Methodist Council.
Jiaqi Liu can be reached at jiaqi.liu@student.shu.edu.
