Featured in the January/February 2025 issue of FAITH Grand Rapids magazine. Written by Tom Kendra | Photography by Heather Abram
In many ways, Pat Nugent’s life and work embody Catholic teaching on the value and dignity of human life, from conception to natural death. As they have for the past 32 years, weekdays for Pat begin in his classroom teaching West Catholic high school students; however, after school, it’s not uncommon to find him tending to the final resting place of the dearly departed of his parish, St. Patrick in Parnell.
That’s because the longtime West Catholic High School teacher and adviser of the school’s Students for Life club is also the sexton of the cemetery at St. Patrick, where he’s been a life-long member. The job of sexton entails keeping track of the more than 2,600 named graves in the parish cemetery, which dates to the 1840s.
Pat, 53, who has never married or had children, has forged a beautiful life for himself by pouring his time, talent and treasure into his three passions – the Catholic faith, teaching and history – all for the benefit of his beloved West Catholic and St. Patrick Parish, Parnell, families.
“He stands in the midst of the chaos of high school as a rock of brilliant competency and steadfast commitment. He inspires students by introducing them to the excitement of the faith,” says Father David Sacha, associate pastor of the Basilica of St. Adalbert and St. Mary parishes and co-chaplain at West Catholic, who was taught by “Mr. Nugent” during his high school days.
A Catholic teaching career spanning generations
After attending Lowell High School and graduating from Michigan State University, Pat began his teaching career at West Catholic in 1993. “I figured I would teach here for a couple of years, but here I am, 32 years later and teaching the children of those first students,” Nugent says with a smile. “It’s a place where I can talk freely about each person being a special and unique creation by God. It’s the job of these young people to convince other young people, and older people, of the value of life.”
Instilling in students the value of human life
“Nuge,” as his students often call him, has done a little of everything during his 32 years at West Catholic – from teaching religion, history and AP economics courses to leading the school’s Quiz Bowl and debate teams. But his legacy will likely be connected with the two major trips he takes with student groups every year.
The first is West Catholic’s annual “Out West” trip to Yellowstone and other national parks, which began in 1985 with six students. Pat started leading the two-week adventure in 1995. This past summer, he took a group of more than 70 students.
The second is the annual bus trip in January to Washington, D.C., for the National March for Life, the world’s largest pro-life event. Begun in 1974 in response to the Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion in the U.S., the March has been an opportunity to pray and peacefully protest the Supreme Court’s decision, and to promote the gift and sanctity of life. While Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, the March continues.
Pat has been taking a busload of 50 or more West Catholic students to the rally since 2001. For Pat, one of the highlights each January is running into former students on the National Mall, many of whom are now leading student groups of their own.
The annual pilgrimage traditionally concludes with Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, always leaves him and his students reinvigorated and inspired to do everything they can to give a voice to the unborn.
“The March” is the biggest event on the Students for Life club’s annual calendar, which also includes Life Chain events in Grand Rapids and painting the sidewalks leading to Falcon Stadium with pro-life messages in advance of big football games.
“The numbers show thathere in Michigan, there are a lot of hearts and minds that need to be changed about the value of human life,” explains Pat. “These students are working to do just that. “We believe that because of the passion of these young people, we are starting to turn the tide.”
Life doesn’t end at death
Pat’s work doesn’t end when he leaves West Catholic at the end of the school day. In fact, in some ways, he’s just getting started.
“I remember asking him at lunch about what he had going the rest of the day,” recalls Sandy Golembiewski, a longtime math teacher at West Catholic who retired in 2013 but still works three days each week as an academic support tutor. “He would say: ‘Well, I have to finish this at school, then we have a club meeting, and then I have to go dig a grave.’”
Yes, the man who spends a good portion of his days teaching kids about the sanctity of life, devotes many evenings and weekends to ensuring a proper Catholic burial for members of St. Patrick at the parish’s adjoining cemetery. St. Patrick is the second-oldest parish in the Grand Rapids Diocese, after the Cathedral of Saint Andrew.
Pat, with occasional help from his brother and other parishioners, took over the duties of sexton from his father, Dennis, who died in 2021. For Pat, the job has much deeper meaning than simply marking and digging graves. “When you’re alive, you go into the church for Mass and when you die, we carry you out and bury you on the blessed parish grounds,” explains Pat. “There is something very powerful about that. As Catholics, we don’t believe the story ends when someone dies.”
Give, and you will receive
As a single man with no children, Pat believes serving the students of West Catholic and the citizens of his community is his mission and vocation.
“I don’t have all of the family commitments that other people do, so I have extra time to do all of these things,” says Pat, who has three siblings, who are all teachers. “It helps that all of my jobs are things that I am passionate about. I consider it my calling.”
In addition to his teaching and sexton duties, Pat has served since 1998 as a member of the Lowell Area Schools Board of Education. He is also secretary of the Grattan Township Historical Society, has written a book on the history of St. Patrick Parish and contributed to Where the Star Came to Rest, a book by Monsignor Gaspar Ancona that chronicles stories of Catholic people and parishes in West Michigan.
Living with joy
“The Dash,” a popular country song by Scotty McCreery released in 2013, emphasizes that more important than one’s date of birth or death is how we live during the time between the dates that get engraved on our tombstones.
That lesson, woven into Mr. Nugent’s classes and lived out by him daily, is something Father David hasn’t forgotten. “I remember there was a point when a group of students argued that the way to convey that we are for life is by approaching our own life with enthusiasm and appreciation which is something that Mr. Nugent embodies everyday,” explains Father David.
Father David and other West Catholic staff members marvel at Pat’s relentlessly positive attitude and the joy for living he conveys, even during challenging days at the school. He does it all with a quick wit, never taking himself too seriously.
Some of the most memorable assemblies at West Catholic have involved students doing their best “Nuge” impersonations. Or the students vs. faculty dodgeball game, where, one year, the senior boys rigged it so that Mr. Nugent was the last player standing, then pummeled him with balls. And who can forget the time that students wrapped him up in aluminum foil and trotted him out in front of the entire student body as the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz?
“He’s a really good sport,” Sandy says with a laugh. Pat insists he is simply carrying on a family tradition, started by his parents, Dennis and Mary, and passed on to their four children, of commitment to the Catholic faith, education and the Parnell community – three things which he can’t imagine “retiring” from any time soon, or ever, for that matter. “I’m still young and I feel like I still have a long way to go and a lot more to give.”