NEWARK (NJ)
NorthJersey.com [Woodland Park NJ]
September 17, 2025
By Deena Yellin
The priest at the center of a half-century old sexual abuse accusation against the Delbarton School took the stand in Morristown on Wednesday and insisted he was not even on campus on the day of the alleged assault.
Instead, Richard Lott testified, he was at a Jersey Shore church on New Year’s Eve in 1975, when he is accused of molesting a 15-year-old student at the elite Morris County prep school.
“I was assigned to St. Mary’s Parish on weekends to celebrate Mass and hear confessions,” said Lott, a now-89-year-old cleric who was an instructor and head of maintenance at Delbarton in the 1970s.
The lawsuit, brought by a former student identified only as “T.M.,” is the first to go to court among 39 abuse cases pending against the Morris Township school. It’s also believed to be the first clergy abuse suit against the Catholic Church to reach a courtroom in New Jersey, where hundreds of other cases have been filed claiming the church covered up violations for decades.
Filed in 2017, T.M.’s suit names Lott, Delbarton and St. Mary’s Abbey, the monks’ residence on campus, as defendants, as well as the order of Benedictine Catholic brothers that runs the school. The defendants have denied any wrongdoing.
Dressed in a navy blazer and gray slacks, Lott spoke softly during his testimony at the Morris County Courthouse. He appeared frail on the stand and seemed confused at times as Michael Geibelson, the lead attorney for the plaintiff, grilled him on details. Lott said that he couldn’t recall some events, and the attorney argued he was contradicting testimony he had given at depositions in 2019 and last year.
On the night of the alleged abuse, T.M. says Lott brought him to an off-campus party, gave him alcohol and then brought the intoxicated teen back to his private quarters in a secluded barn on Delbarton property. Lott —described as “the cool priest” at the all-boys Catholic school — then sexually abused him, according to the suit.
Dramatic testimony
Wednesday’s testimony was the most dramatic thus far in the case, which has drawn an audience of clergy abuse advocates and supporters. The jury of four men and four women followed along attentively, with some leaning forward in their chairs to listen.
The hearing was punctuated by frequent interruptions by defense attorneys, who objected to comments by T.M.’s attorneys and attempted to strike information from the record.
Geibelson, addressing the witness from a lectern, tried to poke holes in Lott’s testimony, attempting to portray him as unreliable.
After Lott told the courtroom he couldn’t recall drinking with students, he was read a quote from a deposition in which he had acknowledged having beer with students in the barn, where he lived and worked. Lott had added that he was not clear how old they were at the time.
Delbarton clergy knew ‘it’s wrong’
He was also asked about the alleged absence of policies at the school regarding sexual assault, sexual contact with students and training for staff on abuse. Lott said he didn’t remember such policies, adding at one point that they were unnecessary because people know that “it’s wrong.”
Lott said he was assigned to serve at St. Mary’s in Lakewood on weekends for a year and a half during the period that included the alleged New Year’s Eve incident.
The attorney seemed to scoff at the alibi, which he said surfaced only in 2024, seven years after the suit was filed. Lott said he hadn’t mentioned it when the accusations surfaced because “nobody asked.”
Lott was asked whether any records could confirm he was in church that day. He said he knew of none and noted that the pastor of the Lakewood church has since died.
Lott, who said he has never been married or had a sexual relationship with anyone, said he had a friendship with T.M., who worked on his Delbarton maintenance crew for several years starting in seventh grade. After the student graduated in 1977, he wrote a letter detailing what had occurred to Abbot Brian Clarke, then head of the school.
Lott also said that he decided in the 1970s that he didn’t want to be a monk anymore. “I told them in 1978 that I wanted to leave,” he said.
Dfense attorney Mark Brancato said that T.M. remained in touch with the priest during the years following the young man’s graduation from Delbarton. On the stand, Lott recounted at least a half-dozen times when the two men reunited in the years after T.M. left the school, including trips made to Lott’s home and several overnight visits.
Lott said his former student even emailed him to tell him about a deck project he was working on. T.M.’s attorney pointed out that Lott wrote “Love you” in response to the message.
Lott’s testimony is scheduled to continue on Thursday, with his accuser, T.M., expected to take the stand after that.