Charlotte Catholic bishop retires after 20 years. Diocese names successor.

Charlotte Catholic Bishop Peter Jugis has retired after leading the rapidly growing diocese for 20 years, and Franciscan Father Michael T. Martin has been named his successor, diocesan officials said Tuesday morning.

Martin will succeed him as the fifth bishop of Charlotte.

At a press conference Tuesday at the Diocese Pastoral Center in Charlotte, Jugis and the 62-year-old Martin, pastor of St. Philip Benizi Parish in Jonesboro, Georgia, spoke to the press and took questions.

During the press conference, Martin said it was “a little wild” when he found out he would be named bishop.

“I found out on Monday of Holy Week, which would have been the 25th of March. Finding anything out on Holy Week for a pastor is crazy,” he said. “I was taken aback by the thought of being a bishop, but I was excited about being in Charlotte.”

Time in North Carolina

Martin isn’t new to North Carolina, having previously served as director of the Duke Catholic Center at Duke University from 2010 to 2022. He said he knew he was coming to “a warm place” with kind people.

Martin also said he was “obviously” a Duke fan. “It was a joy of my life to be there.”

He said he was looking forward to becoming acquainted with Charlotte and the people of western North Carolina, whether they are Catholic or not.

“I look forward to being with you as we all strive to make our area a place of dignity, peace, and prosperity for everyone, especially the marginalized,” Martin said.

The new bishop also said he wants to be involved in supporting Catholic schools and their administrators.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral and new location

According to a diocesan statement, Martin is a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and has deep roots in Catholic education.

He has been a teacher, coach and school administrator in New York and Baltimore, where he had been principal of his former high school, Archbishop Curley High.

The Charlotte diocese encompasses 530,000 Catholics in 46 counties in western North Carolina, and its 20 schools are experiencing record enrollment, diocesan officials said.

The diocese recently unveiled plans to build a new cathedral in Charlotte after outgrowing the 85-year-old St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte’s Dilworth neighborhood.

One of the locations being considered is the Diocesan Pastoral Center, a church official told The Charlotte Observer.

“I don’t want to say anything replaces St. Patrick’s,” Martin said. “We need a facility that can better respond to the growing needs of the church here in the diocese of Charlotte.”

Jugis’ health issues

Jugis, 67, is retiring due to “health limitations,” according to a diocesan statement. During the press conference, Jugis said he had been coping with a kidney problem that limited his ability to travel and officiate lengthy events.

“It is a joy and a blessing to serve the Lord here in the Diocese of Charlotte and just serve the people of God here ... these past 20 years as a bishop and, in total, 40 years as a priest,” Jugis said. “And to serve here also as a lifelong Charlottean.”

Jugis led the diocese as reports of clergy abuse surfaced from decades ago locally and across the country.

In 2019, Jugis issued a “sincere apology” to victims of clergy sex abuse, which he called a “crime and awful sin.”

Jugis’ statement came a day after the Observer and others reported that the names of two monks who had once worked at Belmont Abbey College and at St. Michael Catholic Church in Gastonia appeared on a list released by the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, of priests “with credible and substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.”

The two monks, Donald Scales and Frederick George, had worked in Virginia, though the accusation against Scales, who died in 2008, dated to his time as pastor of St. Michael parish in the late 1970s.

Jugis also found himself the subject of a Change.org petition in January 2023 by parishioners of St. Matthew Church in Ballantyne, one of the largest Catholic communities in the country.

Parishioners were upset over his suspension of their former pastor, Father Pat Hoare, who publicly accused Jugis of making misleading and inaccurate statements about him, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time.

Hoare was suspended in 2019 when he was accused of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania. The suspension involved an allegation that occurred years before Hoare became a priest. Hoare denied the allegation, and an investigation by a Diocese of Charlotte review board found “no specific incident of sexual abuse of a minor” by the priest.

Martin’s thoughts on pope’s positions

Over the years, Jugis also was criticized by more progressive members of the church, including for his vow to bar politicians who supported abortion rights from receiving communion and his push for an amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Martin was asked what he thought of Pope Francis’ position on same-sex couples and marriage, and his more recent comments on gender-affirming surgery.

“I think that the Holy Father has been tremendously consistent with the gospel mandate to go out and welcome all people to Christ,” Martin said. “While at the same time, upholding our church’s long-held beliefs and teachings regarding the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of marriage as something between a man and a woman.”

Martin will be ordained and installed on May 29 at St. Mark Catholic Church in Huntersville.