Bishop James T. McHugh

Bishop James T. McHugh

On May 21, 1989, it was announced that Auxiliary Bishop James T. McHugh of Newark had been appointed fifth bishop of Camden.  He was installed on June 20, 1989.

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For his ten years in Camden, upholding the teachings of the Catholic Church in a society that too easily dismisses religion was of paramount importance. He was an ardent defender of the faith and of the sanctity of human life, and, as architect of the plan of the American bishops to promote all human life, has been called the “father of the pro-life movement in America.”

During his ten years in Camden, Bishop McHugh undertook a major reorganization of the diocese’s administrative structure and pushed to safeguard Catholic education.  A diocesan synod process, in which thousands of Catholics came together in locations all over the diocese to have their say in the future direction of the Church of Camden, culminated in a three-day Synod event September 11-13, 1992, at Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill.

Bishop McHugh also authorized the relocation of the Diocese’s headquarters from Haddon Avenue to downtown Camden in 1998 in the PNC Bank building at Market and Broadway, directly across from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the Mother Church of the Diocese. It was in the midst of the move to the new offices that it was announced, on December 7, 1998, that Bishop McHugh had been appointed coadjutor of Rockville Centre. Until the appointment of a new bishop for Camden, he served as apostolic administrator of Camden.

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