PRINCETON (NJ)
The Daily Princetonian
June 23, 2020
By Marie-Rose Sheinerman
Former University Chaplain Father Gabriel Zeis, who resigned in September 2019 amid a sexual abuse allegation dating back to 1975, was cleared of the charge on June 16 by an independent investigation, which found the allegation “not credible,” the Diocese of Trenton has announced.
According to a Sept. 11 email sent to student members of the Aquinas Institute, the University’s on-campus Catholic ministry, Zeis denied the allegation at the time but resigned immediately, both from his position as the ministry’s director and chaplain and as Diosecan Vicar for Catholic Education in the Diocese of Trenton.
The misconduct, which surfaced in August 2019, was alleged to have taken place at St. Francis Seminary in Loretto, Penn., in 1975, five years before Father Zeis’s ordination to the priesthood but shortly after his “solemn profession of vows,” according to the Diocese’s statement.
Zeis was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1980 and has since served in a variety of institutions of higher education, including as President of Saint Francis University from 2004 to 2014 and as Chaplain at Princeton University from July 2016 to September 2019.
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