Clergy

The Rev. John T. Harwood, Priest-in-Charge

Father Harwood came to St. Mark’s on Pentecost, 2017, after spending seven years serving Trinity Episcopal Church and Zion’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Renovo, Pennsylvania. He was ordained to the diaconate in 2010 and priesthood in 2011 by Bishop Nathan Baxter. He received his certificate in Anglican Studies in 2013 from the California Divinity School of the Pacific. He completed his training in pastoral care at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, and his parish internship was at St. Luke’s-Altoona. Within the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania he has served on the Board for the School of Christian Studies (now the Stevenson School), the Standing Committee, and the Clergy Discipline Committee. He currently chairs the Diocesan Evangelism Committee.

He serves on the Boards of the Shelter and the Area Agency on Aging.

He retired from Penn State in 2016 after a long career as a faculty member and administrator. He is the author of three books and many article. His most recent article on the theology of Sallie McFague (1933-2019), a contemporary American theologian. It can be downloaded from the Anglican Theological Review. Much of her work investigated how metaphors reflect and shape meaning in Scripture and theology. 

He is married to Kathryn Grossman, who retired from the department of French and Francophone Studies at Penn State in 2017 after forty-four years on the faculty. They are the parents of two children, grandparents of two grand-daughters, and companions to Blaze (a German Shepherd who died in 2021) and Didi (a most peculiar  but beloved cat who died in 2019). Kathryn is an expert on the novels of Victor Hugo  and was delighted that Google marked the publication of the last volume of Les Misérables (June 30, 1862) with a special illustration. She is an active member of St. John’s Episcopal Church-Bellefonte.

Blaze was quite good when he comes to church with us (three Episcopal churches and one Lutheran church). This is a picture of him with us at St. John’s, but he was a frequent visitor in Renovo. He likes to participate in the hymns.