The Rev. Bob Nugent, silenced for his work with gay Catholics, dies at 76

By Kevin Eckstrom, Religion News Service
Updated: 01/03/2014 10:32:34 AM EST

WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Robert Nugent, a Roman Catholic priest who was silenced by the Vatican for his work with gay and lesbian Catholics, died Wednesday (Jan. 1) after a three-month battle with cancer. He was 76.

In many ways, the scrutiny of Nugent's activism symbolized the Vatican's approach to all talk of homosexuality under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI - what one gay Catholic group called a "witch hunt" - compared with the more tolerant "who am I to judge?" tone set recently by Pope Francis.

Nugent, a member of the Salvatorians religious order, co-founded the Maryland-based New Ways Ministry in 1977 with Sister Jeannine Gramick to build bridges between the gay community and the Catholic Church. Their activities drew repeated condemnation from U.S. Catholic leaders in the 1980s.

"His ministry was more than a welcome," said Francis DeBernardo, the group's executive director. "He had the wisdom to know that the real moral problem in the church was not the lives of lesbian and gay people, but the ignorance and fear out of which many church leaders and officials operated." Nugent served as a consultant for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on its 1997 pastoral document on homosexuality, "Always Our Children."

http://www.ydr.com/lifestyle/ci_24839163/rev-bob-nugent-silenced-his-work-gay-catholics