Orange, New Jersey.
He entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington,
New Jersey, and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese
of Newark at Sacred Heart Cathedral on May 25, 1957.
Father McHugh’s first assignment was as assistant pastor
at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Newark; followed
by Holy Trinity Church, Fort Lee. During this
time, he did graduate work in Sociology at Fordham University.
In 1965, Father McHugh joined the staff of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic
Conference (NCCB/USCC) where he was named Director of
the Family Life Bureau (1965-1975) and Director of the
NCCB Office of Pro-Life Activities (1972-1978). He became
Director of Diocesan Development Program for Natural
Family Planning (NFP) in 1978. During his stay in Washington,
DC, he did further study in Sociology at Catholic University
of America.
In
1971, Father McHugh was appointed papal chamberlin
to His Holiness by Pope Paul VI with the title Monsignor;
he was elevated to the rank of prelate of honor by
Pope John Paul II in 1986.
Also during
the 1970’s, Msgr. McHugh was visiting lecturer
at Princeton Theological Seminary (1974), Immaculate
Conception Seminary, Newark (1976) and American College,
Louvain, Belgium (1976).
From 1978
to 1981, he studied Moral Theology with a concentration
in medical ethics at Pontifical University of St.
Thomas Aquinas in Rome, earning a doctorate in Sacred
Theology, and in 1982 was visiting lecturer in Theology
at Pontifical Lateran University, Rome.
Appointed
titular bishop of Morosbisdus and auxiliary bishop
of the Archdiocese of Newark on November 20,
1987, he was ordained January 25, 1988. A little over
a year later, on May 13, 1989, Bishop McHugh was appointed
Bishop of Camden and installed on June 20, 1989.
On December
7, 1998, Bishop McHugh was appointed coadjutor bishop
of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. He took canonical
possession of that office on February 22, 1999. Shortly
after, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of
the Camden Diocese, overseeing that diocese until
July, 1999, when Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio became that
diocese’s sixth bishop.
On January
4, 2000, upon the acceptance by the Holy See of Bishop
John R. McGann’s resignation, Bishop McHugh became
the third bishop of Rockville Centre; he was welcomed
into his cathedral on January 21, 2000.
Bishop
McHugh belonged to several professional associations
including the National Council on Family Relations,
the American Sociological Association, the Catholic
Theological Society of America, the Population Association
of American and the American Association for the Advancement
of Science. He was invested into the American Association
of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in January,
2000.
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