NEWARK (NJ)
Morris NewsBee [Morristown NJ]
August 25, 2025
By Sal DiMaggio
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is calling for transparency about the actions of Auxiliary Bishop Elias R. Lorenzo, a potential successor to Archbishop of Newark Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, while he was a leader at Delbarton School.
Delbarton School and St. Mary’s Abbey, the Benedictine order that is associated with the school, have faced several sexual assault allegations since 2002, stretching back to a former Delbarton lacrosse player accusing a monk of sexually abusing him in 1978.
The school and the abbey came under fire in 2018 when numerous lawsuits were filed, prompting the school to acknowledge that 30 individuals had come forward with to say they had been abused.
Lorenzo served in a variety of roles at Delbarton and St. Mary’s Abbey such as Director of Liturgy, Director of Monastic Formation, Prior of St. Mary’s Abbey from 1995 to 2002, and Rector of the Abbey Church from 1995 to 2009.
Lorenzo was appointed to the role of auxiliary bishop on Feb. 27, 2020 by Pope Francis. The current archbishop, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, will reach the mandatory retirement age in 2027, and Lorenzo is one of the candidates to replace him.
“Lorenzo’s rise cannot erase the pain experienced by Delbarton survivors,” said Mark Crawford, SNAP’s New Jersey Coordinator, in a statement from SNAP online.
“It is unacceptable that someone who held authority during decades when so many students were being preyed upon should now be considered for further promotion. Our members demand transparency and accountability. Under Lorenzo’s watch children were abused by wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
Delbarton’s headmaster Father Michael Tidd and St. Mary’s Abbey’s abbot Jonathan Licari sent a joint letter to the school community regarding the New York Post’s coverage of SNAP’s demands on Friday, Aug. 15.
The letter said that the Post left out that Delbarton and St. Mary’s Abbey had been accredited by Praesidium, a risk management organization, and that Lorenzo was a key player in getting that accreditation.
“Both St. Mary’s Abbey and Delbarton School are accredited by Praesidium, a level of oversight that Bishop Elias Lorenzo, O.S.B., was instrumental in instituting at the Abbey and School,” the letter said.
“In addition, Bishop Elias helped to establish the first independent review board under the leadership of the late New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Marie Garibalidi to resolve such cases.”
Lorenzo served on the Praesidium’s Religious Advisory Council in 2020, according to Brook Pratt, Praesidium’s senior vice president of growth. St. Mary’s Abbey was first accredited in 2008, and Delbarton School in 2019, according to Pratt.
Billy Crane, who settled with Delbarton School in a sexual abuse case in 2018, said that Lorenzo was responsible for “aiding and abetting the culture” at Delbarton.
He said that he wants Lorenzo completely removed from his role as auxiliary bishop, let alone be considered as Tobin’s successor.
“He’s there to protect their culture,” Crane said. “That’s his MO, and it couldn’t be any clearer. Bishop Elias Lorenzo has been rewarded for the protection of the accepted culture.”
Crane said that he hopes that the investigation into clergy abuse being conducted by the state Attorney General’s office will uncover more information and lead to change.
“Hopefully, the AG’s investigation will expose the amount of abuse that took place at Delbarton,” Crane said.
“So we can’t rely on current abbot, Jonathan Licari, and the current headmaster, Michael Tidd. They’re not even capable of doing the right thing. So in fact, I’d like to see the abbey not separated from the school, but shut down altogether, and the headmaster should be a lay person, and no connection to the clergy at all.”
In the letter sent to the Delbarton community, Tidd and Licardi said that as of Tuesday, July 1, Delbarton School exists as a nonprofit organization separate from The Order of St. Benedict, Inc. Previously, the school was owned by St. Mary’s Abbey and operated by an advisory board to its monks.
However, the letter says that St. Mary’s Abbey will remain the “spiritual and communal home of the school.”
Delbarton is also currently involved in litigation against a former monk who left St. Mary’s Abbey in 1978. An individual identified as T.M. in court proceedings is claiming Lott sexually assaulted him in 1976 and is suing Lott and Delbarton. The trial for that case, which was filed in 2017, is set to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 2, barring any settlements made before then.
Tidd said that the judge for the case told lawyers for both sides to “not air their positions in the media.”
The Archdiocese of Newark has not responded to a request for comment at this time.
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