Nicholas Anthony DiMarzio
Nicholas Anthony DiMarzio is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the seventh Bishop of Brooklyn, having previously served as Bishop of Camden from 1999 to 2003.
Life and career
Early life
Nicholas DiMarzio was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Nicholas Sr. and Grace DiMarzio. His father served in the military at the time of his birth and later worked as a health inspector for the city of Newark. All four of his grandparents emigrated to the U.S. from southern Italy. He is the oldest of three children.DiMarzio grew up across the street from Sacred Heart Cathedral Basilica, Newark, and attended the cathedral's grammar school. He then went on to graduate from St. Benedict's Preparatory School in 1962. He attended Immaculate Conception Seminary, then at Darlington in Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from Seton Hall University in 1966. He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from The Catholic University of America, a Master of Social Work from Fordham University and a doctorate in social work research and policy from Rutgers University, New Brunswick. He is also a certified social worker and fluent in Italian and Spanish and proficient in French.
Ordination and ministry
DiMarzio was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 30, 1970, by Archbishop Thomas Boland. He began his ministry among migrants in 1976, where he served as the archdiocese's refugee resettlement director for nine years, during which time he also served a two-year term as director of the Office of Migration of Newark's Catholic Community Services, now Catholic Charities.He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1985, when appointed executive director for Migration and Refugee Services for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and served there for six years. A year after arriving in Washington, he was named a prelate of honor by Pope John Paul II.
While he served as executive director of Migration and Refugee Services, he also created the Catholic Legal Immigration Network known as CLINIC, a legal services corporation through which dioceses offer new immigrants help in resettling. He later served as its chairman for six years.
When he returned to his home archdiocese in 1991, Archbishop Theodore McCarrick appointed him to be the associate executive director of Catholic Community Services and a year later was advanced to executive director, a position he held for five years. He also held the title of Vicar for Human Services, and vice president of the board of the archdiocesan Cathedral Healthcare Systems, overseeing its hospitals.
Auxiliary Bishop of Newark
In 1996, Pope John Paul II elevated him to the rank of auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Newark. From 1998 until 2001 he chaired the Migration Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.DiMarzio spent his diaconal year at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newark. He also served as an associate pastor at St. Nicholas Church, Jersey City, 1970–77; associate pastor in-residence at Holy Rosary Church, Jersey City, 1977–79; administrator and pastor of St. Boniface Church, Jersey City, 1979–80; chaplain of Holy Rosary Academy, Union City, 1980–84; pastor of Holy Rosary Church, Jersey City, 1984–85; associate pastor in-residence at Mount Carmel Church, Newark, 1985–88 and 1996; and pastor at Mount Carmel Church, Newark, 1996-99.
In 2000, he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.
Bishop of Camden
DiMarzio was appointed the sixth Bishop of Camden, New Jersey, on June 8, 1999. While bishop there he established an Office of Ethnic Ministries, an Office of Black Catholic Ministry, and an Office of Hispanic Ministry. He also created an apostolate to the Haitian community and founded two missions to serve the Korean and Vietnamese communities. In 2000, DiMarzio established Mater Ecclesiae Chapel, the first canonically established mission owned by a diocese and staffed exclusively by diocesan priests to offer exclusively the Traditional Latin Mass.Bishop of Brooklyn
On August 1, 2003, DiMarzio was named bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn after four years as the bishop of the Diocese of Camden. He was installed in his new episcopal see at a Mass of Installation at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Brooklyn, on October. 3, 2003.One of DiMarzio's first acts after his installation as Bishop of Brooklyn was to speak at the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Rally at Flushing Meadows Park. In November 2003 he spoke before Brooklyn's Muslim community at a Ramadan celebration and attended the Fifth World Congress of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People in Rome.
Shortly after his installation as, DiMarzio was invited to be a member of the Global Commission on International Migration, sponsored by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and a number of governments. It began its work in December 2003 and concluded on December 31, 2005, after completing a report, entitled "Migration in an interconnected world; New directions for action". The bishop was the only U.S. resident on the 19-member commission.
DiMarzio has issued three pastoral letters addressed to the parishioners of the Diocese of Brooklyn. The first, "The New Evangelization in Brooklyn and Queens", was presented in October 2004. The following October he wrote his second pastoral, entitled "The Family: The Hope of the New Evangelization". In October 2007, the Bishop issued his third pastoral letter: "Do Not Be Afraid - A Pastoral Vision for the New Evangelization".
From 2004 to 2007, DiMarzio chaired the Domestic Policy Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. During his tenure, the committee formulated "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship", published in 2008, a call to political responsibility from the Catholic bishops of the U.S. It was approved by a historic number of bishops.
He has also served as chairman of the Bishops' Migration Committee, and currently is a member of the board of directors of Catholic Relief Services and chairman of its finance committee, and a member of the Bishops' Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Politicians.
DiMarzio's column of reflections on issues affecting the faithful, entitled "Put Out into the Deep" appears weekly in the diocesan newspaper, The Tablet. He also appears weekly on Currents, a daily Catholic television news program that airs on New Evangelization Television in a segment titled "Into the Deep", where he discusses diocesan, local, national and international news.
On November 13, 2019, 56-year old Mark Matzek alleged that DiMarzio and a deceased priest, the Rev. Albert Mark, had repeatedly molested him while he was an altar boy at St. Nicholas Church and a student at St. Nicholas School in Jersey City in the mid-1970s, during which time DiMarzio was a parish priest. "In my nearly 50-year ministry as a priest, I have never engaged in unlawful or inappropriate behavior and I emphatically deny this allegation. I am confident I will be fully vindicated", DiMarzio said.
Views
Abortion
DiMarzio has expressed his commitment to human life from the pulpit on many occasions. He also prays alongside Msgr. Philip Reilly, founder and executive director of Helper's of God's Precious Infants, on a routine basis, where he leads processions from area churches to local abortion clinics with hundreds of faithful to pray for an end to abortion.He also joined New York City religious leaders in January 2011 to call for new efforts to lower New York City's abortion rate.
Abuse scandal
DiMarzio visits with victims of clergy sexual abuse. In May 2009, he published a presentation to the people of the Diocese of Brooklyn entitled "From Shadow To Light And From Scandal To Healing: The Experience of the Diocese of Brooklyn with the Sex Abuse Scandal". The presentation was given so that the people of the diocese would have first-hand knowledge of what was being done in the diocese to assure protection of the youth and young adults from the scandal of abuse. It discussed investigating, reporting, responsibility of the Church, the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, accountability and reconciliation, prevention, victim assistance, the Safe Environment Office, effect on the laity, and youth in the Church. It also established a hotline, 1-888-634-4499, for anyone reporting suspected abuse.In October 2019, Pope Francis appointed DiMarzio to lead an investigation into the handling of sexual abuse claims in the Diocese of Buffalo, where Bishop Richard Joseph Malone was accused of mishandling allegations.
Religious freedom
In November 2009, DiMarzio signed an ecumenical statement known as the, a manifesto that was issued by Catholic, Orthodox Christian and Protestant leaders, and which called on Christians not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other social and moral matters that go against their religious consciences. It has been signed by more than 150 American religious leaders.Immigration
DiMarzio is known as a forceful voice on behalf of migrants and immigrants and has worked for these causes through the majority of his priestly ministry, beginning as a young priest in Jersey City. When he was appointed by Pope John Paul II to the Diocese of Brooklyn, it was an appointment that expressed the Pope's recognition of Brooklyn's well-known status as a Diocese of Immigrants and DiMarzio's knowledge and expertise in responding to the needs of the migrant and immigrant communities.Because of his wide-ranging knowledge and experience in matters affecting migrants and immigrants, Bishop DiMarzio has testified frequently before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives. He has lobbied Congress for more lenient laws while serving as head of the United States Catholic Conference's Office of Migration and Refugee Services.
Vocations
The number of seminarians for the Diocese of Brooklyn has steadily increased since DiMarzio became a bishop, a reflection of his efforts and support for vocations. Statistics show that the number of seminarians increased from 39 in 2006-07 to 61 in 2010-11. He has worked with other dioceses and seminaries in the U.S. to receive seminarians from Haiti, Korea, Vietnam, and Poland to serve the "Diocese of Immigrants".DiMarzio requested each parish establish a Parish Vocation Committee and as of May 2011, there are close to 140 PVC's in Brooklyn and Queens. He also celebrates an annual jubilee celebration of priests and men and women religious and holds twice a year gatherings with seminarians.
Part of DiMarzio's efforts for vocations included establishing the John Paul II House of Discernment in April 2008 which serves as both a residence for seminarians and a location for discernment events, including discernment retreats. Other programs included in his support for vocations are Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation, and the Vocation Office.
DiMarzio ordained three bishops in a rare triple ordination.