In Remembrance: Robert Nugent ’84STM Died on January 1 2014

Reverend Robert Nugent, a Roman Catholic priest censured by the Vatican for his support of gays and lesbians, died on January 1, 2014, at age 76. The cause was lung cancer. For more than two decades Father Nugent traveled the country with Sister Jeannine—the nun with whom he founded New Ways Ministry in 1977—to counsel gay Catholics, give workshops for Catholic clergy and lay people, and write books on gays in the church. In 1984 their Archbishop ordered them out of the diocese, forcing their resignations from New Ways Ministry. They continued to speak and write about gays in the church until an investigation from the Vatican concluded in 1999 that Father Nugent and Sister Jeannine must end their ministry and be barred from holding office within their religious orders. Father Nugent accepted the silencing. In response to those who criticized him for staying in the church, Father Nugent had this to say: "In order to have an effect on the house, you must live in it."

The Baltimore Sun published a full obituary on January 5, 2014.