Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Landmarks with Leon podcast series, celebrating 250 years of independence. I'm your host, Rachel Leon. Since being elected in 2022 and serving as Vice President of Bethlehem City Council, I'm humbled by the opportunity to serve the diverse communities that make up our great city. But to understand where we're going, we need to understand our past. Each week, I'll share a short feature with a big story about the 250 years that made the Lehigh Valley and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, known as the Christmas City, as we explore historic landmarks.
RACHEL
I’m happy to introduce Martha Capwell Fox, a local historian in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania as a guest to discuss the Cathedral Church of the Nativity located on the southside of Bethlehem. Martha has also been a member of the Cathedral Church of the Nativity since 1989.
MARTHA
Thank you Rachel, I’m very, very happy to be here and I’m always glad to talk about my church.
RACHEL
What denomination is the Cathedral Church of the Nativity and can you give us a brief history of its origins and its core beliefs.
MARTHA
Nativity is an Episcopal Church. We are the oldest Episcopal Church in the city of Bethlehem. Of course the Episcopal Church actually dates back to the time of Henry the VIII and his action of the Anglican Church in Great Britain, however the Episcopal Church had to split off from the Anglican Church after the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States.
RACHEL
What makes the Episcopal Church unique in understanding the need for separation between church and state?
MARTHA
It’s very interesting because even though the majority of Americans in the colony period were not Anglicans, the rather influential folks tended to be, and so a good percent of the entire group that was part of the continental congress were Anglicans, almost half of them, and understood the problems that arose in a state and a community and a governess system when there wasn’t an established state church. The Anglican Chirch in Virginia was the established Church and so it was taxes supported and this was not something that really aligned with the smaller republicans sentiments of the founders of this country and were really adamant about not having a state sanctioned established Church, hence the separation of church and state,
RACHEL
It seems like Episcopal history is really American history. So, who were some of the people responsible for establishing an Episcopal community in Bethlehem?
MARTHA
They were not politicians, they were industrialists. Most of them actually grew up in one of the earliest Episcopal Churches in this area, which was Saint Marks in Jim Thorpe. Asa Packer for instance and the Sayre family, they came to Bethlehem with the combination of building of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the founding of what was eventually became Bethlehem Iron Company. And so they worked moving here mostly to participate in the building of some of the earliest industries in the Lehigh Valley. It’s very interesting with the way the church is oriented now. People who are familiar with the side of the Church that faces Wyandotte Street, with the door and the little bell tower on the top of it, that was the original entrance. The first Church was really quite small.
You’ve been listening to part one of the Landmarks with Leon Church Series in South Bethlehem. Tune in next week for the conclusion of the history of the Cathedral Church of the Nativity with Historian Martha Capwell Fox.
