November 13, 2019
Press Release
Contact: Michael Walsh, Director of Communications
michael.walsh@camdendiocese.org
856-583-6143
Diocese of Camden Statement Regarding the Claim Against Former Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio
CAMDEN, N.J. — On November 13, 2019, the Diocese of Camden became aware of a scurrilous charge against Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, from his time as a priest of the Diocese of Newark, who from 1999-2003 as Bishop of Camden was at the cutting edge of providing protections to the children of South Jersey.
Even before the mandates of 2002’s Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Bishop DiMarzio created protocols in this diocese to ensure that children were protected and that victims received the care they need.
Under his leadership the Diocese of Camden was the first diocese in the country to offer to victims a toll-free reporting phone number, which the diocese still maintains. Additionally, the position of Victims Assistance Coordinator was created to make available to victims counseling and assistance services.
It was Bishop DiMarzio who called together the diocese’s first victims assistance board, now called the clinical advisory panel.
In 2002 he established a committee to review the policies of the Diocese of Camden in the area of youth protection and to provide recommendations for expanding the scope of protection. His desire was to fill this committee with knowledgeable people, who were compassionate to those who had been victims. The committee was chaired by a former Camden County prosecutor and included a rabbi, a Protestant minister, the former president of the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Sheriff of Atlantic County and most important, a victim of child sexual abuse. It was they who were tasked with making recommendations to Bishop DiMarzio and it was he who enacted them, in keeping with his attention and devotion to the protection of children.
Given the above, the Diocese trusts that the courts will see through this charge.
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The Diocese of Camden serves some 475,000 Catholics living in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem Counties. The Diocese serves the South Jersey community through faith formation, education and social services.