Peter Joseph Jugis

Peter Jugis was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 3, 1957, and baptized at St. Ann's Catholic Church in 1957 by then Father Michael J. Begley. Jugis attended South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte and graduated in 1975.

Jugis studied at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1979. He studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College in Rome from 1979 to 1984, and received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1982.[1]

On June 12, 1983, Jugis was ordained to the priesthood by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.[2] He received a Licentiate of Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1984.[1] After returning to North Carolina, Jugis had the following pastoral assignments in parishes:

• Parochial vicar of St. Leo the Great Catholic in Winston-Salem 1984 to 1985
• Temporary administrator of Holy Infant in Reidsville for the summer, of 1985
• Parochial vicar of St. John Neumann in Charlotte 1985 to 1987[1]

In 1985, Bishop John F. Donoghue appointed Jugis as a judge on the marriage tribunal.[1] In 1987, Jugis began studying part time at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. while serving as parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Parish in Salisbury, North Carolina. In July 1991, he was appointed as judicial vicar of the diocese and parochial vicar at St. Leo the Great Catholic Parish. Jugis received his Doctor of Canon Law degree from the Catholic University of America in 1993.[1]

Jugis' next pastoral parish assignments were :

• Pastor of Holy Infant in Reidsville from 1993 to 1996
• Pastor of Queen of the Apostles in Belmont, North Carolina 1996 to 1997
• Administrator of Holy Spirit in Denver, North Carolina, 1998 to 1999
• Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Monroe, North Carolina, from 1999 to 2003[1]

On August 1, 2003, John Paul II appointed Jugis as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte. On October 24, 2003, Jugis received his episcopal consecration at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte from Archbishop John Donoghue, with Bishop William Curlin and Bishop Francis Gossman serving as co-consecrators.[2][1]

During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Jugis said that politicians who support abortion rights for women should be denied communion unless they publicly recant their views.[3] In 2009, he endorsed a bill opposing gay marriage.[4] In 2013, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests criticized Jugis and Bishop Michael Burbidge for not warning families in their diocese about Raymond P. Melville, a former Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse in Maine and in Maryland, who had moved to North Carolina.[5][6]

On April 23, 2015, Jugis prevented New Ways Ministry co-founder Sister Jeannine Gramick from speaking at St. Peter Catholic Church in Charlotte. A diocese spokesperson said the diocese cancelled her appearance because the Holy See said Grammick was opposed to Catholic teachings on human sexuality.[7]

On August 17, 2018 Jugis made a statement regarding allegations of sexual misconduct against Church leaders after a grand jury report named 301 Catholic priests who abused children in Pennsylvania. He stated that investigations were going on in the Diocese of Charlotte and encouraged Catholics to pray for all victims of sexual abuse.[8] On December 30, 2019, Jugis released a list of fourteen priests credibly accused of sexual abuse in the diocese since 1972.[9][10][11] On July 1, 2020, Jugis announced that Patrick Hoare, newly-appointed pastor of St Matthew Paris in Charlotte, was barred from active ministry on the recommendation of the diocese’s independent Lay Review Board. This stemmed from an allegation of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania in the 1990's.[12]