Background
Peter Joseph Jugis was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 3, 1957, and baptized at Saint Ann"s Catholic Church in 1957 by a priest who later became Bishop Michael J. Begley, the first Bishop of Charlotte.
Peter Joseph Jugis was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 3, 1957, and baptized at Saint Ann"s Catholic Church in 1957 by a priest who later became Bishop Michael J. Begley, the first Bishop of Charlotte.
He attended South Mecklenburg High School and graduated in 1975. He studied at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration in 1979. He studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy, from 1979 to 1984, and received a Theology degree (STB) from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1982.
He succeeded Bishop William George Curlin as bishop of the diocese and is seated at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick in Charlotte, North Carolina. Early life and education Ordination and ministry Jugis was ordained to the priesthood on June 12, 1983, by Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter"s Basilica in Rome. He received a licentiate degree in canon law (Juris Canonici Licentiatus) from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, in 1984 and a doctorate in canon law (Doctor of Canon Law) from the Catholic University of America in Washington, District of Columbia, in 1993.
After ordination he was assigned to various parishes around the Charlotte area.
In July 1991 he was appointed Judicial Vicar of the diocesan marriage tribunal of the Diocese of Charlotte. Bishop of Charlotte Pope John Paul II appointed Jugis as the fourth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte on August 1, 2003.
When his appointment as bishop was announced he was pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe, North Carolina, and judicial vicar of the diocesan marriage tribunal. He received episcopal consecration at Saint Matthew Church in Charlotte on October 24, 2003, from Archbishop John Francis Donoghue, with Bishop William George Curlin and Bishop Francis Joseph Gossman serving as co-consecrators.
During the 2004 presidential election he said that politicians who support legal abortion should be denied Holy Communion unless they publicly recant their views. In 2009 he endorsed a bill opposing gay marriage. He also voiced his disapproval of University of Notre Dame"s invitation to President Barack Obama as the commencement speaker for its graduation ceremony and awarding him an honorary doctoral degree.
In 2011 he pledged personal support for the abortion veto override in House Bill 584, the Woman"s Right to Know Acting, after the bill was vetoed by North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue.
He is liturgically orthodox. In 2005 he issued liturgical norms for Diocese of Charlotte. In 2006 he reminded his priests that if they chose to wash parishioners" feet during Holy Thursday services, liturgical law mandated that the ceremony was to be reserved to men"s feet only.
He supports the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in his diocese. He also offers Mass using the so-called Benedictine altar arrangement of a cross and six candles and has been seen to offer Mass ad orientem. On April 23, 2015, Jugis opposed allowing New Ways Ministry co-founder Sister Jeannine Gramick to speak at Saint Peter"s Basilica but was allowed to speak at an LGBT-affirming Baptist church instead.