Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem

Diocese of Bethlehem
Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
Location
Ecclesiastical province	III (Middle Atlantic)
Statistics
Parishes	59
Information
Cathedral	Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
Current leadership
Bishop	Sean W. Rowe (Provisional)
Map
Location of the Diocese of Bethlehem
Website
diobeth.org

The Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem covers fourteen counties in Pennsylvania to the north and west of Philadelphia. Following the retirement of Paul Marshall on December 31, 2013, the diocese's ecclesiastical authority rested in its Standing Committee. A special convention took place on March 1, 2014, electing Sean Rowe, Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania, as Provisional Bishop. The cathedral is the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The pro-Cathedral is St. Stephen's, Wilkes-Barre.

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.