Convenors & Assistant Convenors of the Convocations
(Elected by members of the Convocations for a two-year term)
ALTOONA:
The Rev. John Harwood (2026)
Barbara Roberson (2026)
HARRISBURG:
The Rev. Kathy Hettinga (2025)
The Rev. Dr. Adam Kradel (2025)
LANCASTER:
The Rev. Bradley L. Mattson (2026)
NORTHERN TIER:
The Rev. Janis Yskamp (2026)
Ramon Segers (2026)
SOUTHERN:
The Rev. Martha Ambrose, (2025)
Melanie Graves (2025)
SUSQUEHANNA:
The Rev. Dina Ishler (2025)
WEST BRANCH:
The Rev. Lauri Kerr (2025)
Charles Lamade (2026)
List updated 9/23/2024
Altoona
The Rev. John Harwood (2026)
John Harwood came to St. Mark’s-Lewistown on Pentecost, 2017, after spending seven years serving Trinity Episcopal Church and Zion’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Renovo, Pennsylvania. In Lewistown, he serves on the advisory boards for the Mifflin-Juniata Agency on Agency, the Shelter Services, and the Lumina Center. He currently chairs the Diocesan Evangelism committee and has served on the Standing Committee.
Barbara Roberson (2026)
Barbara Roberson moved to Pennsylvania with her husband early in 2006. They settled in Bellefonte and quickly found a new church home at St. John’s, Bellefonte. The Rector at the time invited her to become the Treasurer for the parish in 2008, and she has continued serving in that role to this day. Barbara also serves on Altar Guild and is a Lay Reader.
Harrisburg
The Rev. Dr. Adam Kradel (2025)
Fr. Adam was reared and ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia. He has served parishes in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe and Dioceses of West Virginia, Chicago, Milwaukee, Pennsylvania, and Central Pennsylvania.
After serving parish full time for a three years, Fr. Adam entered a doctoral program in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation examined the religious rhetoric used by United States Presidents and the reception of this rhetoric by the mass public.
Upon finishing his dissertation, Fr. Adam returned to parish life using experience gained in Political Science to help members of God’s Church negotiate being devout Christians in a post-Christendom culture.
The Rev. Kathy Hettinga (2025)
Kathy T. Hettinga is a Postulant for Holy Orders for the priesthood in the Diocese of Central, PA. She is an award-winning book artist, photographer, author and designer with a BFA from Calvin College and an MFA from Colorado State University. A teacher and the first woman to be named Distinguish Professor of Art and Design, she taught at Messiah University, Indiana Purdue University, Colorado State, as well as for IMAGE in Santa Fe. Long interested in Theology and the Arts she taught at Wesley Theological Seminary, and as Research Fellow at the Institute of Sacred Music, Worship and the Arts at Yale Divinity School, where she exhibited her work, sang in the Marquand Chapel choir, took many courses and offered critiques in type/graphic design courses. She designed the SEEN Journal for Christians in the Visual Arts for over a decade, and is Design Consultant for POWER Interfaith.
Kathy chairs the Adult Formation and Spiritual Growth Ministry at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mechanicsburg where she is in the choir, and served as Senior Warden, Junior Warden and as a delegate to Convention. She is serving on the Standing Committee. Most recently she is serving on the SSFM task force for Communications and Marketing, and offered the pastoral voice for CIVA Gathers. She is married to Nathan Sooy and together they have three sons. Kathy loves learning, the people of God both inside and outside of the Church, the Scriptures, and participating in the life of SSFM.
Lancaster
The Rev. Bradley L. Mattson (2024)
The Rev. Bradley Mattson serves as Rector of Hope Episcopal Church, Manheim, PA. As a bi-vocational minister, Bradley maintains a financial services practice which he founded in 2002; advising individuals, businesses, non-profits, and churches in the areas of investment, planned giving, and insurance.
In his spiritual life he has a deep appreciation for woodworking, gardening, creation care, sacred music, and Franciscan spirituality. Bradley is a graduate of the Bishop Dean T. Stevenson School for ministry, and a passionate advocate for the small parish, and regional collaborative ministry. He lives in Lancaster with his wife Rev. Jennifer Mattson, and their four children; Anna Gail, William, Thomas, and Elizabeth Grace.
Northern Tier
The Rev. Janis Yskamp (2024)
Northern Tier Regional Missioner, Priest in Charge of Christ Church Coudersport, St. James Mansfield and St. Andrews Tioga
Ramon Segers (2026)
Ramon grew up in the Netherlands and now lives in Wellsboro with his husband, Philip. He is an active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wellsboro and has served in a variety of lay leadership roles, including vestry, communications, and outreach, developing strengths in pastoral care, event planning, and community engagement.
As an administrative assistant at the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce, Ramon works to build partnerships, promote local initiatives, and support the economic and cultural life of the region. He is currently in the discernment process for ordained ministry and is deeply committed to connecting the Church with the needs of the wider community.
Southern
The Rev. Martha Ambrose, Deacon (2025)
Martha Ambrose, (She/Her) moved to Pennsylvania and the diocese in the spring of 2019 with her husband, the Reverend Grant Ambrose, and their daughter, Alice. Martha was ordained to the diaconate (transitional) this past July and looks forward to sharing in this new ministry opportunity.
When she has the chance, Martha enjoys reading, British murder mystery shows, crocheting, and spending time in God’s creation.
Melanie Graves (2025)
I have lived most of my life within the borders of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, attending churches in the Northern and Southern Tier of the Diocese (and many in between). As a member of St. Mary’s Waynesboro, I’ve served in enough roles to develop skills required to evaluate needs and strengths, to plan events, to lead functional tasks and educational opportunities, and to develop meaningful relationships. My career and my involvement in my community have allowed me to develop skills need to network, create plans for improvement, and support individuals, as well as, programs in their journeys toward sustainability.
Susquehanna
The Rev. Dina Ishler (2025)
The Reverend Dina Carter Ishler (she/her) was born in New Jersey and baptized in the same church as her father, historic St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Freehold, New Jersey. She is grateful for this heritage that has nourished and sustained her throughout her life and now, wonderfully, comes to deep fulfillment in the ministry of the priesthood. She is a graduate of Lebanon Valley College, The Eastman School of Music, and the Dean T. Stevenson School of Ministry; she is a passionate advocate of SSFM and its outstanding preparation for ministry.
Dina has been in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania since 1992 when she began worshipping at St. Andrew’s, Shippensburg, and has subsequently worshipped at St. Andrew’s, York, and St. Edward’s, Lancaster (her sponsoring parish.) She is loving doing life with the dear people of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Sunbury, as their Priest in Charge, and has recently moved to Selinsgrove, where she lives with her husband of thirty years, Patrick. Dina and Patrick have three grown children, Faith, Carter, and Thomas. She cooks and bakes from scratch when she has time, is an avid reader, a lover of the Hymnal 1982, and a contemplative wanderer of the forests and lakes of Pennsylvania, taking deep joy in kayaking as a spiritual practice.
TBD
West Branch
The Rev. Lauri Kerr (2025)
Rev. Kerr is a cradle Episcopalian. I was raised on a dairy farm near the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and attended Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wellsboro until she went to Virginia Theological Seminary. I have a Bachelor of Art’s in Psychology and Master’s of Organizational Leadership from Mansfield University. I was ordained to the Deaconate in June of 2000 and to the Priesthood in December of the same year and served as Deacon in Charge and the Rector of Saint Paul’s, Manheim until I moved to Sayre, PA, where I served as interim for Church of the Redeemer in Sayre. Since serving as interim in Sayre, I have served in two capacities in Lycoming County, first as the priest for the parishes of Greater Lycoming Episcopal Area Ministry or GLEAM, and now as the Missioner for the West Branch Convocation. In the past, I have also served on Standing Committee and Council of Trustees of the Diocese of Central PA and currently, I serve on the Finance Committee of the Diocese.
I am a movie buff, a carry over from my family running a video store. I enjoy bowling and spending time camping and hiking. I have been with my wife, Mary, for 22 years. I have three step children William, Jason and Megan. I am passionate about social justice especially issues around racism, inclusion, and climate change. It is critical that we work to make our churches and communities places where all free comfortable and welcome. This is a way that we can be good stewards of our brothers and sisters. In an effort to help foster respectful conversations on difficult topics, I also authored a book titled “God’s Rainbow People”.
Charles Lamade (2026)
Charles D. Lamade is an Episcopalian of ten years’ vintage, previously Lutheran. He left to find a church offering a greater sense of piety, which he has found in Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport. Charles retired after forty years as an obstetrician/gynecologist and seeks continued service to the church.