Bishop John J. Dougherty (1907-1986) was a president of Seton Hall University, a prominent public speaker, and played an active role in church politics in the 1960s and 1970s. During his tenure at Seton Hall, he oversaw a large expansion of facilities and the introduction of co-educational classes.

John Joseph Dougherty was born 16 September 1907 in Jersey City, N.J., to John and Christina Farrell Dougherty. He had four siblings, William, Elizabeth, Rose, and Katherine. He attended St. Aloysius Grammar School and St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City before attending Seton Hall College in South Orange and Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, N.J. In 1930 he went to Rome to attend the North American College, was ordained there on 23 July 1933, and received a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome in 1936. He later received a doctorate in Sacred Scripture from the same institution.

Father Dougherty taught scripture and related subjects at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, N.J. from 1936-1959, during which time he became a well-known public speaker and wrote numerous articles and the book Searching the Scriptures, published in 1959. Fr. Dougherty was a regular speaker on the Catholic Hour radio program (with Fr. Fulton Sheen) and later on a similar television program. Fr. Dougherty also served as a charter member of The Advocate, the Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of Newark, and was appointed to the Pontifical Commission for Motion Pictures, Radio, and Television. In 1954 he was elevated to the title of Right Reverend Monsignor.

In 1959, Monsignor Dougherty became the president of Seton Hall University after the sudden death of Monsignor John L. McNulty. During Msgr. Dougherty’s tenure as president, the University introduced co-educational classes and established a computer center. Msgr. Dougherty also oversaw an expansion in facilities including building $13 million in new facilities and significant expansions of existing buildings, such as additions to Boland Hall and Bayley Hall. Pope John XXIII appointed Msgr. Dougherty an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark in 1963 and he was ordained on January 24, 1963 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark by Archbishop Thomas Boland. Bishop Dougherty was active in a number of church activities in addition to his role as University president, participating in the Second Vatican Council from 1963-1965, representing the United States Bishops at the United Nations Assembly in New York, and serving as a member of the Vatican Commission on Peace Studies. He was also appointed to the Board of Consultors of the Archdiocese of Newark in 1964.

Bishop Dougherty resigned as Preseident of Seton Hall University in 1969 and became the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Short Hills, N.J. He remained active in archiocesan and public activities, becoming an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War and speaking to the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the subject in 1970. He was appointed Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Newark in 1976 by Archbishop Peter L. Gerety. He retired as pastor in 1977 at the age of seventy and returned to Seton Hall University as the first Scholar in Residence. In 1980, Bishop Dougherty suffered a stroke, from which he gradually recovered. He retired as Auxiliary Bishop of Newark in 1982, and passed away in 1986 in Teaneck, N.J. He was survived by three siblings, Kathy Dougherty (1918-2009) and Rose Phelan (1915-2002) of Tenafly, N.J., and William Dougherty of Oradell, N.J.