CHARLOTTE — Father Juan Miguel Sanchez is leaving his role at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Winston-Salem to serve as priest-secretary for the Diocese of Charlotte’s incoming bishop.
SanchezBishop Peter Jugis has announced that Father Sanchez’s appointment is effective Monday, May 20.
Bishop-elect Martin will be ordained and installed as the fifth Bishop of Charlotte at the end of May. As priest-secretary, Father Sanchez will assist the new bishop in his day-to-day activities, working with him and accompanying him on visits to parishes, schools and Catholic institutions throughout the diocese. He will maintain an office in the Chancery at the Diocesan Pastoral Center.
Father Sanchez has served as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy Parish and Our Lady of Fatima Mission in Winston-Salem since July 2023. Ordained in 2021, he has also served as parochial vicar of St. Matthew Parish in Charlotte and as assistant chaplain at Charlotte Catholic High School.
A native of Mexico, Father Sanchez’s earliest years were spent on a small-town farm before moving with his parents and siblings to the city of Guadalajara. He came to the United States at 20 and went to work in construction with his older brothers. Despite his lack of a high school diploma, he was encouraged by Father Julio Dominguez, the diocese’s Vicar of Hispanic Ministry, to pursue his studies. He earned his high school equivalency diploma before entering priestly formation at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio. He then joined a select number of the diocese’s seminarians chosen to study theology at the Pontifical North American College in Rome before being ordained to the priesthood by Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis in 2021.
— Catholic News Herald
CHARLOTTE — In one of his first public events with parishioners, Bishop-elect Michael Martin will celebrate a special Mass for the feast of Corpus Christi with St. Matthew Church faithful in a Ballantyne amphitheater, with as many as 5,000 people in attendance.
The free event is open to everyone and is set for 10:45 a.m. Sunday, June 2, at The Amp. Tickets are required and may be obtained online here.
Bishop-elect Martin will be installed as the fifth Bishop of Charlotte on May 30, and on Saturday will officiate for the ordination of six deacons for the diocese, then on Sunday will celebrate Mass for the feast of Corpus Christi with parishioners.
Most recently a parish priest from Jonesboro, Georgia, in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, he succeeds Bishop Peter Jugis, who has retired after 20 years of serving as the Bishop of Charlotte.
The Amp is located at 11115 Upper Ave., off Ballantyne Corporate Place, and the event will include Mass and a Eucharistic Procession for the feast of Corpus Christi.
St. Matthew Parish leaders describe the special celebration as “a day of renewal and rededication” meant to draw Catholics together to honor God’s precious gift of the Eucharist.
The annual solemn feast day celebrates Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist.
Corpus Christi is Latin for “Body of Christ” and was first established as a Holy Day in 1246 by Bishop Robert de Thorte of Liege, Belgium, then extended to the universal Church in 1264 by
Pope Urban IV at the suggestion of St. Thomas Aquinas, who encouraged a feast day focused on the Eucharist and the Real Presence.
The feast day takes on additional meaning this year with the celebration of the National Eucharistic Congress, encouraging a renewed focus on the gift of the Eucharist for Catholics around the U.S.
— Christina Lee Knauss
Reserve your free tickets
Get free tickets and more information at www.stmatthewcatholic.org/feast-of-corpus-christi.