Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem

Diocese of the Episcopal Church (United States)
the Episcopal diocese formerly known as the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania

The Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem covers fourteen counties in Pennsylvania to the north and west of Philadelphia. The current bishop, the Rt. Rev. Kevin D. Nichols, was elected as Bishop on April 28, 2018, and consecrated on September 15, 2018. The cathedral is the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The pro Cathedral is St. Stephen's Cathedral in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

The first Anglican services in the area comprising the Diocese of Bethlehem were held in Perkiomen in 1700. Settlers of English and Welsh ancestry were visited there by Evan Evans, rector of Philadelphia's Christ Church. Two years later, this group formed the parish of St. James. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was formed in London in 1701, with the initial goal of funding missionary clergy in America. Until the American Revolution brought an end the Society's activities in the United States, it provided support to the few itinerant Anglican clergy in rural Pennsylvania. In early Pennsylvania settlements, missionaries of the Church of Sweden and the Church of England had a cooperative relationship, and Anglicans often worshipped with the small Swedish congregations. As Sweden decreased support for these congregations, some were taken over by Anglican clergy. In 1753, a former Swedish church near Hopewell Furnace became St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church. St. Gabriel's later established a missionary parish in Reading, which at first met in members' homes. This parish, St. Mary's, later became Christ Church parish. In 1785, William White convened a meeting at Christ Church in Philadelphia for the purpose of organizing the Episcopal Church in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The conference included laymen as well as clergy, an arrangement which had no precedent in England. St. Mary's in Reading, St. Gabriel's in Morlatton (now Douglassville) and St. James in Perkiomen (now Collegeville) were among the fifteen parishes represented at the conference. In the 1970s, the name of Central Pennsylvania was re adopted by the former Diocese of Harrisburg. In October 2022, the diocesan conventions of Central Pennsylvania and Bethlehem initiated the process for exploring reunification.

Bishops of Central Pennsylvania From Until Incumbent Notes 1871 1891 Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe 1891 1897 Nelson Somerville Rulison 1898 1905 Ethelbert Talbot Previously Missionary Bishop of Wyoming and Idaho; became Bishop of Bethlehem. Bishops of Bethlehem 1905 1928 Ethelbert Talbot Previously Bishop of Central Pennsylvania; Presiding Bishop (as senior bishop) 1924–1926. 1928 1954 Frank W. Sterrett Frank William Sterret; coadjutor bishop since 1923. 1954 1971 Frederick J. Warnecke Frederick John "Fred" Warnecke (died February 23, 1977, Boca Raton, FL, aged 70) 1971 1983 Lloyd E. Gressle Lloyd Edward Gressle (June 13, 1918, Cleveland, OH – December 7, 1999, East Quogue, NY) 1983 1995 Mark Dyer James J. Mark Dyer (born June 7, 1930, Manchester, NH) 1996 2013 Paul V. Marshall Paul Victor Marshall, retired December 31, 2013 2014 2018 Sean W. Rowe Provisional Bishop, March 1, 2014 – September 15, 2018 2018 Present Kevin D. Nichols Kevin D. Nichols, elected April 28, 2018; ordained September 15, 2018