Bishop Peter Jugis reflects on four decades of service to the Diocese of Charlotte

‘Remain in Christ’

Bishop Peter Jugis sat down May 3 with Catholic News Herald Editor Spencer K.M. Brown to talk about his time as the fourth Bishop of Charlotte and reflect on his past 40 years of service to the Diocese of Charlotte. (Photos by Liz Chandler and Archives) CHARLOTTE — When Bishop Peter Jugis was 22, he was sent to Rome to study for the priesthood from the Diocese of Charlotte, mostly rural then, covering the western half of North Carolina and so sparsely populated with Catholics it was considered mission territory by the Church.

When he landed at the airport, a bus picked him and his brother seminarians up and drove them on a surprise visit to the Vatican.

“I was just blown away,” he says, recounting how they emerged from narrow streets to get a glimpse of the expansive St. Peter’s Square and its breathtaking basilica. “I’d never been anywhere really. Coming from a tiny mission diocese, back in 1979, all the way to Rome was quite a thing.”

The moment was amplified when young Peter Jugis returned to the square to attend his first Sunday Angelus, with Pope John Paul II bestowing a Sunday blessing from his apartment window high above the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

“Entering the square and surrounded by tens and tens of thousands of people – that was just really strengthening of my faith. It made me step back and say, ‘Wow, the Catholic Church really is big and strong and active. It is united in celebrating Christ and our faith.’”

His takeaway that day – and from Sunday blessings that followed – was that “we can also do that here” in our diocese, too.

For the next 40 years, he would work toward that goal of building up the Church in western North Carolina. So it is gratifying today, he says, on the eve of his retirement at age 67, to survey the stunning growth of Catholicism across the diocese’s 46 counties – particularly when Church attendance is flagging in some other areas of the U.S.

Peter Jugis became Father Jugis in 1983 and Bishop Jugis in 2003.

For the past 20 years, he has led the diocese – administratively and pastorally – making him one of the longest serving bishops in the country. He has grappled with unprecedented growth as the Catholic population has more than doubled to an estimated 530,000.

He has guided and supported 92 parishes and missions, 20 schools and more than 50 ministries. He also launched a college seminary so that, unlike his own college experience, young men from western North Carolina can discern a call to the priesthood here at home. That seminary, St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly, has grown, too – now home to 19 students – and on May 1 broke ground on a $25 million chapel, in part to accommodate more visitors from the community.

During his tenure, Bishop Jugis has called to holy orders 57 priests and 65 deacons – giving him a lasting legacy and one of the accomplishments he values most. (He begs to differ, however, when talking about his successes: “I just don’t think of it all in terms of our success or what we’ve done,” he says. “It’s what the Lord has done and what He’s asked us to do that is most important.”)

Another indisputable achievement has been the growth and popularity of the annual Eucharistic Congress, which Bishop Jugis established in 2005 and now draws over 10,000 people each fall to Charlotte to celebrate the Eucharist – one of the largest such events nationally.
In the Eucharistic Congress, Bishop Jugis has tried to provide people with the same sense of wonder he experienced back in Rome, where Catholics from the diocese’s small towns and rural areas can feel part of the universal Church in all its devotion and diversity.

“The whole diocese is not a metropolitan area like Charlotte,” said Bishop Jugis, who served a dozen churches across the diocese as a priest before Pope John Paul II – the same pope he’d seen in Rome – appointed him the fourth Bishop of Charlotte.

“At least half of the territory is small parishes, or one parish per county, and these people can feel like a small minority of Catholics in that area,” he said. “And what the Eucharistic Congress can do is really strengthen their faith. It might give them a chance to see everyone together and say, ‘You know, we’re not such a minority after all. We’re not all alone out there in the wilderness, either.’”

Now, facing non-life-threatening health issues, he’ll step aside for Bishop-elect Michael Martin, OFM Conv., who will be installed as the diocese’s fifth bishop in late May. Bishop Jugis will continue to serve as bishop emeritus, not yet sure how his ministry will evolve, but pledging his full support for the new bishop.
In a conversation with the Catholic News Herald, Bishop Jugis reflects on his life and ministry in an interview that has been edited here for brevity:

CNH: What are your plans as you become bishop emeritus?

BISHOP JUGIS: The first priority is to help our bishop-elect, Father Michael Martin, get established in his new responsibilities that he’s taking up very soon and help him prepare for his ordination. After that, I’m sure that the Lord will let me know soon enough what He wants from me at this point in my life. As the saying goes, “If you want to make the Lord laugh, tell Him your plans. And He will tell you His plans.” So, I’m waiting for Him to tell me His plans for me. And especially by my prayers, one of the greatest gifts we can give to one another, I will continue to pray for our diocese.

CNH: You know, more than most, that the new bishop will have a lot to do.

BISHOP JUGIS: Yes, it’s a very big job, and he has a very short amount of time. He has to come to a new diocese and get to know major people and the different ministries around the diocese. Then he has to learn all of the administrative work. To be available to help him is my focus, because we’ll also have the deacons’ and priests’ ordinations right after that, as well.

CNH: When you became bishop, was it a hectic period taking on this new role?

BISHOP JUGIS: Oh, certainly. Being a diocesan bishop is like two full-time jobs. There’s the office and desk work on the one hand, and then the parish visits and pastoral ministry on the other.

It’s a huge responsibility to undertake. There’s a lot to do in a short amount of time. I was named bishop on Aug. 1, 2003, and really didn’t leave my parish until mid-September. At that point, I moved into the bishop’s residence and began my duties. I had only a month and a half to prepare.

CNH: What have you most enjoyed in your time as a priest and bishop?

BISHOP JUGIS: What I’ve most enjoyed during my time really has been being in the parishes and with the people – which is what parish priests see day in and day out. As a bishop, I was able to do that on a much larger scale, being there for confirmation Masses, dedicating new churches, or blessing new parish facilities and visiting schools.

It is just a joyful, joyful time going to meet with people in their parishes. And you get to know people all over. They become part of your larger diocesan family.

CNH: What do you see as your most meaningful accomplishment as bishop?

BISHOP JUGIS: Well, I just don’t think of it all in terms of our success or what we’ve done. It’s what the Lord has done and what He’s asked us to do that is most important. I remember what Mother Teresa responded when someone asked her, “Do you feel successful?” to which she answered, “The Lord didn’t call me to be successful, He called me to be faithful.” And that’s what we must be.

A bishop is here to shepherd his flock, to respond to the needs of the time and to all the issues and challenges as they arise. Certainly one of the greatest blessings has been to see how the diocese has grown.

CNH: As a Charlotte native, you’ve been able to see that growth firsthand.

BISHOP JUGIS: Yes, I grew up in Charlotte in the 1960s and there was always a sense of a greater Catholic community, but still we were officially designated as a mission diocese. And now, over these past 20 years, to see how we’ve consistently grown – and at this past Easter Vigil, over 1,000 people joined the Catholic Church in our diocese alone. That would have been unthinkable 15 years ago, even more so 50 years ago. To be able to serve those growing needs, to be able to meet those challenges as parishes are growing, and to respond to their pastoral needs, those have been great blessings.

CNH: One major milestone for the diocese has been the establishment of St. Joseph College Seminary. What were your hopes and goals in starting it?

BISHOP JUGIS: The seminary emerged from one of our four priorities in the diocese that I announced in 2004. Those came from attending the U.S. bishops’ meetings; they had a practice of determining what their priorities would be, nationally speaking. And so, I said, we’re in the Church in the U.S., so we should also draw on that, especially in encouraging vocations to the priesthood.

CNH: So you saw the need.

BISHOP JUGIS: Yes, and I recalled my own call to the priesthood at that time. When I approached my vocations director back in the day to inquire about the priesthood, I was in college at that point. I told the vocations director then that I felt the Lord was calling me to the priesthood. There really wasn’t much available at that point in the way of formation for someone that young. He said, “Well, continue in the program where you are at UNC-Charlotte and start to fill up your credit hours with philosophy. Get that done and then we’ll see if you still feel that’s what the Lord is calling you to.”

My first experience of seminary was at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Before that, I just met with my spiritual director, my parish priest, as far as forming me and teaching me how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours and how to serve at Mass. After I became bishop, we began to discover, in responding to the needs of the times, that there were more and more young people in their late teens who were approaching the diocese and their pastors about feeling called to the priesthood or consecrated life.

I didn’t feel it right to say, ‘Well, come back in two or three years,’ because they were hungry for formation, much like I was. Father Christopher Gober, vocations director, was seeing the same thing, but we didn’t have anything available for these young men until after they finished college.

I asked Father Matthew Kauth to study the issue, visit other seminaries and find out what we needed to do to start our own seminary. We had a perfect opportunity here in that the young men, if they began in their early college years, could earn their degree from Belmont Abbey College during their formation.

It gradually emerged to respond to what we felt the Lord was telling us: “I am calling men to the priesthood. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to help them respond and discern their way through this call to the priesthood?”

CNH: One of your other priorities in 2004 was to increase devotion to the Eucharist. Do you feel the annual Eucharistic Congress has helped accomplish that?

BISHOP JUGIS: Oh, yes, certainly. At the time, Pope John Paul II had called for a “Year of the Eucharist” for the universal Church in 2004-2005. I wanted to bring that here. I approached the Presbyteral Council with the idea for a Eucharistic Congress and asked what we could do to celebrate the “Year of the Eucharist” here. Father Roger Arnsparger was on the council, and he came to me and said he would be able to help with the idea of hosting a Eucharistic Congress.

I believe it has truly served to deepen people’s relationship with Jesus, most especially with how He is present in the Eucharist. We’ve seen during the last 19 years that more Eucharistic Adoration chapels have sprung up around the diocese. There has been an increase in devotion and a love for the Lord, which I think is great. We’re here to serve the Lord, to serve Jesus, and

He is present with us always, and we can’t neglect the most special way He is present: in the Eucharist.

CNH: What was the very first Eucharistic Congress like?

BISHOP JUGIS: It was our first attempt to bring the whole diocese together, and we thought, “Well, we’ll be lucky if we get a couple hundred people to attend.” We reserved just one small room at the Charlotte Convention Center. And when I was told over 3,500 people showed up, I was shocked. I saw that as a sign that maybe the Lord is telling us that people are hungering for something like this, to come together and celebrate their Catholic faith. Then we tried it again the next year, and it has continued to increase each year, growing into something that people really want and support.

When I was sent to Rome to study for the priesthood and attended my first Sunday Angelus with the pope – surrounded by tens of thousands of people – that just really strengthened my faith.

It made me step back and say, “Wow, the Catholic Church really is big and strong and active. It is united in celebrating Christ and our faith.” And, I thought, we can also do that here.

The Eucharistic Congress strengthens people’s faith. We now have over 530,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte and over 1.4 billion Catholics in the world. You hear that and it’s just a number. But when we get to experience those numbers here, gathering together and seeing all those people, it strengthens our faith and we realize, “We’re not alone. We are a part of a large Catholic family.”

CNH: You’ve carried that feeling of one large Catholic family with you into reaching out to communities that might otherwise feel left out.

BISHOP JUGIS: Definitely. We’re all Catholic brothers and sisters together, regardless of our nationalities or backgrounds. Even as a young college student and a musician at Mass playing the organ at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, a Spanish Mass was started, and I volunteered to play because I could play the music and read the language.

Also, my family was always open and hospitable to everyone, regardless of nationality or background. That notion of being open to all people was emphasized when I went to Rome, where people from all over the world came together in one place, united in our Catholic faith.

That’s what Catholicism is. It is welcoming to all people. I’ve heard one priest describe the Catholic faith by saying, “Well, here comes everybody.” We’re all Catholic, we’re all professing the same creed. That’s the beauty of the Catholic Church – the unity and universality, the same Mass, the same liturgy, the same faith.

CNH: When you were a young priest, the Hispanic population was growing in western North Carolina. How did you get involved in that ministry?

BISHOP JUGIS: I volunteered right away to celebrate Masses for the migrant workers, traveling to East Bend and up in the Triad and Boonville to offer Mass in community centers or other buildings on Sundays.

More and more people showed up back then, and the crowds would sometimes overflow outside the buildings. These men and women had left their homes in Mexico to work here in tobacco fields or orchards from spring to fall. To serve them was very important.

With so many different people of many different cultures, I am so happy to see the way our diocese has grown. It is the work of the Holy Spirit everywhere.

— Spencer K.M. Brown and Liz Chandler