Born in Newark, New Jersey, on June 16, 1944, His Excellency, the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, attended the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington, New Jersey, was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest for the Archdiocese of Newark in 1970, and named Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II in 1986.

From 1985 to 1991, he served as executive director of the Office of Migration and Refugee Services at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Bishop DiMarzio was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Newark in 1996, where he served as Vicar for Human Services and executive director for their Catholic Charities agency. In 1980, Bishop DiMarzio earned a Masters in Social Work from Fordham University, and a Ph.D. in Social Work Research and Policy in 1985 from Rutgers University.

In July of 1999, Bishop DiMarzio was appointed as the Sixth Bishop of Camden, New Jersey, and served there until October 2003, when he was installed as the Seventh Bishop of Brooklyn.

Bishop DiMarzio has spent his ministry of over 40 years in the areas of immigration assistance and refugee resettlement services. He has served as both an advocate for refugees and immigrant concerns in political forums, and as the initiator and administrator of programs to assist refugees and immigrants within the U.S. and throughout the world.

Bishop DiMarzio currently serves as chairman of the board of the Center for Migration Studies.  Currently, he is a member of the boards of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), the USCCB Migration Committee and the Migration Policy Institute.  Bishop DiMarzio is also a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. Previously, the Bishop chaired the boards of the Migration Committee of the USCCB, CLINIC, the Finance Committee of Catholic Relief Services, and the Migration Policy Institute.  From 2003 to 2005, Bishop DiMarzio served as the U.S. representative to the Global Commission on International Migration, a United Nations sponsored commission.

Bishop DiMarzio served as a consultant for the John Jay Report, a 2004 independent study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Using surveys completed by Roman Catholic dioceses, researchers analyzed “the nature and scope of the problem of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests and deacons in the United States.” The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned the study.