Fr. Nikola Derpich, L.C., S.Th.D., was born in California to a Croatian-American family and received a BA with a double major in Computer and Information Sciences and Literature with an Emphasis on Creative Writing from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1989. He worked in the computer industry for seven and half years as a technical support engineer and a technical writer.

He entered the Legionaries of Christ in 1997, making his first vows in 1999, and received B.A.’s in Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in 2001 and 2006, respectively. He was ordained a Catholic priest on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 2006, and continued his studies, receiving an S.T.L. in Theology in 2008 and a S.Th.D. in dogmatic theology in 2015.

Since ordination he has worked inRegina Apostolorum as U.S. Enrollment Coordinator of the School of Bioethics, as theology instructor in Our Lady of Thornwood (Thornwood, N.Y.), Mater Ecclesiae College (Greenville, R.I.), during which he was also chaplain for Overbrook Academy, and Regina Apostolorum.

As a Legionary he was a contributor toSacerdos magazine from 2000-2006, writing the column Priests of the Twentieth Century. From 2017-2020 he was Associate Pastor at St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church in Cumming, GA. From 2012-2021 he taught theology as a professor at Regina Apostolorum.

For RCSpirituality, he wrote the liturgy blog Finding the Plug from 2015-2018, the book Maximizing the Mass and contributions for the Weekly Newsletter. Fr. Derpich also managed and contributed for the RCSpirituality Online Classroom.