Come February, the new Episcopal Diocese of the Susquehanna will establish its Harrisburg Office in the same building as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 248 Seneca Street. The Bethlehem Office of the diocese will remain at 321 Wyandotte Street in Bethlehem.
The Rev. Deacon Stuart Scarborough, Diocesan Property Manager, explained the process by which the new diocese’s headquarters were chosen.
“At the beginning of 2025, the Transition Leadership Team established ten working groups to tackle the planning and execution of the creation of our new diocese. One of these was the Future Offices for the New Diocese Working Group, which was tasked with exploring the future needs of diocesan operations and seeking solutions to provide for these needs.” Deacon Scarborough was a member of this working group and regularly reported its findings to Bishop Scanlan and Central Pennsylvania’s diocesan staff.
The Future Offices Working Group met several times in the first half of 2025 and quickly concluded that the current Diocesan House of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania at 101 Pine Street in Harrisburg was much too large and expensive to maintain for the size of the local staff. Over the summer, the working group began a search for a future diocesan staff home, taking into consideration both commercial properties and available office space in Harrisburg churches. The primary considerations were the amount of office space, parking, accessibility, and cost.
Bishop Scanlan reflects on this decision saying, “Establishing an office at St. Paul’s in Harrisburg will allow us to retain an office in the capital city of the Commonwealth but with a smaller footprint that suits our staffing model. St. Paul’s is also an accessible space and offers expansive parking for our guests. The role and function of a diocesan staff is to serve the parishes and programs of the diocese; having our offices within one of our congregations will remind us, daily, of our mission and call to serve. It will be a joy to share space with those engaged in the vibrant ministry of St. Paul’s.”
“St. Paul’s is blessed,” shared the Rev. Celal Kamran, Rector of the church. “Blessed to have the space in our building. Blessed that we can offer this space for diocesan offices and blessed that we can share further in the ministry of our Diocese.”
The diocese signed a four-year lease with St. Paul’s last month and is now actively engaged in preparing a new home for this part of the diocesan staff. We currently anticipate the big move to take place in February, with the new Harrisburg Office of the Diocese of the Susquehanna opening in March 2026.