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Rector
Our Rector, the Rev'd Dennis Witt Nichols, is a native of Virginia. He is married to Linda, who is a publisher for Moorehouse Publishing in New York City. They have two children Ashley and Ande.
Fr. Nichols is an alumnus of both the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester, Virginia, and The General Theologiocal Seminary in New York City. Before attending seminary, he gave recitals, including performing for PBS (public radio) in Virginia and the Kennedy Center, giving demonstrations of the great organ in the main concert hall. his former organ instuctors included students of Durufle and Virgil Fox of Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Md. As a seminarian, he served as a substitute organist in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, under the Direction of Dr. David Hurd, musical Scholar, recitalist, and chief editor of the Hymnal 1982. He plans on performing an all Messaien Recital counting venues in New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia in 2013-2014.
St. Peter's is his second cure, having served as Vicar of St. John-in-the-Wilderness, Gibbsboro-Voorhees. Both churches are in the Diocese of New Jersey.
Fr. Nichols presently serves the Diocese of New Jersey as an appointed member of the Bishop's Commission on Music, and is treasurer of the Woodbury Convocation, where he was former Dean. He is Chaplain of the SouthWest Jersey Chapter of the American Guild of Organist, AGO. He has also served on the Executive Committee of General Seminary. He supports the mission and ministry of the Oldest Seminary of the Church.
As an accomplished musician and liturgist, his ministry is shaped by his passion for the building of communities that "worship the Lord, in the Beauty of Holiness" and that "respect the diginity of every human being, loving neighbor as one's self."
Fr. Nichols has a deep love for the Anglican Communion and Faith. He has participated several times in the Anglican Center in Rome, Italy. This ecumenical endeavor was founded by the late Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the late Paul VI, Bishop of Rome. His interest in the greater Communion, motivated his studying at Wadham College of the University of Oxford in England in the Summer of 2004. In the summer of 2007, Fr. Nichols attended the Oxford Round Table, as an invited delegate. It convenes at Harris Manchester College, Oxford England. He was one of thirty three screened delegates. The Round Table meets at the famed Oxford Union , a prestigous dabate hall. The admission into the Round Table carries with it a lifelong invitation. The Round Table meets several times each year inviting participants to submit papers on various topics in politics, religion, and education. He attended the Amercian Study Program at St. Edmund Hall in Oxford in 2009 and 2010.
His long term goal is to be instrumental in the furthering of ecumencial relations with non-Christian Faith traditions, particularly of the Eastern Faith traditions. Father Dennis is currently studying Sanskrit and Indian Studies, through the OCHS, a recognized centre of Oxford University, in the interest of understanding other religious and cultural expressions finding a common language for the attainment of world peace.
Fr. Nichols' spirituality may be summed up in his words of wisdom:
"Many have affirmed that Truth (satya) is one, but there are many paths to it. As Western Christians, we have the grave responsiblity of sharing the Gospel of Christ, inviting "All sorts and Conditions of Persons" into a deeper awareness of the Universal Love of God, who desires to Draw All to Himself. This is what we do best as Anglican Christians, in a world which desperately needs our Mission and Ministry."
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