The Rt. Rev. Kevin D. Nichols

The Rt. Rev. Kevin D. Nichols was appointed Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of the Susquehanna on October 18, 2025. He was appointed by Bishop Scanlan immediately following her election to serve as Bishop Diocesan. Bishop Nichols will be put forth for election as the next Bishop of the Diocese of the Susquehanna when Bishop Scanlan retires in October of 2027. Read more about the Episcopal Transition Plan.

Bishop Nichols was ordained and consecrated as the IX Bishop of Bethlehem on September 15, 2018. He was elected on the first ballot of a Special Electing Convention held on April 28, 2018, at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. Prior to his election, Bishop Nichols was Chief Operating Officer and Canon for Mission Resources in the Diocese of New Hampshire. He was formerly president of the Diocese of New Hampshire’s Standing Committee and a member of the churchwide Task Force to Reimagine the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Nichols began his ministry as a bi-vocational priest, serving a small rural parish while working full-time as an account manager and management trainer for Sealed Air Corporation, a packaging company. A former Roman Catholic priest who received his Master of Divinity degree from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, he was received into the Episcopal priesthood in 1999 and has served as Rector of St. Stephen’s in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, and St. Andrew’s in Hopkinton, New Hampshire.

Bishop Nichols’ wife, Patti, is a licensed clinical social worker. They have four adult children, and five grandchildren.