Msgr. Kelly has served as a weekend assistant at St. Aloysius Parish in Caldwell since 1966.
Son of Edward D. Kelly and Helen M. Barkhorn, he was born in Newark, NJ in October 1939. He was raised in South Orange and graduated from Our Lady of Sorrows School in 1953 and Seton Hall Preparatory School in 1957.
Msgr. Kelly attended Fairfield University in Connecticut and completed his undergraduate degree at Seton Hall University in 1962 and his Master of Arts degree at the same institution in 1969.
In May of 1966, after completing his studies in theology at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Mahwah, he was ordained to the priesthood at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark by Archbishop Boland.
Msgr. Kelly's first assignment was to Seton Hall Preparatory School in 1966 and he was a teacher, coach, and guidance counselor there until becoming Principal at Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains in 1975.
After one year in that position, Archbishop Gerety assigned Msgr. Kelly as Rector of the College Seminary at Seton Hall University. In 1980 he was appointed Headmaster at Seton Hall Preparatory School. His Holiness Pope John Paul II named Msgr. Kelly a Prelate of Honor, with the title of Reverend Monsignor in 1986.