Current Events and News
From the Diocese
A Special Message from Bishop Mark
Young people in our diocese have frequently heard me tell them that the foundational principle of Catholic social teaching is the following: Every human person is made in the image and likeness of God. Period. It’s in the Sacred Scriptures (Genesis 1:27). No further...
New Directive Regarding Mass Atttendance
Bishop Mark has issued a new directive regarding the celebration of public Masses that lifts an earlier directive that would have limited the number of people permitted at each Mass to 25. When public Masses resume beginning the weekend of June 13-14, 2020, all are...
Parishes Announce Reconciliation Opportunities
Bishop Mark Bartchak has announced that the public celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation may resume at parishes beginning on May 23, 2020. Click HERE for a county-by-county schedule of upcoming Reconciliation opportunities at various parishes in the Diocese...
Dates for Public Confessions, Masses Announced
Bishop Mark has announced dates to resume the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the distribution of Holy Communion and the public celebration of Mass in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. According to the Bishop’s directives, issued on May 20, 2020, priests may resume the...
Bishop Announces Plan to Reopen Churches
The following is a message from Bishop Mark to all people of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown on May 13, 2020. Specific directives are being finalized and will be available prior the the reopening of church buildings on Saturday, May 16, which marks the...
Diocese to Livestream Triduum Services
The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has announced plans to livestream Triduum services with Bishop Mark Bartchak as presider and homilist, in addition to the regularly scheduled television broadcast of the Bishop’s Easter Sunday Mass. The following is a schedule: Holy...
Closure of Churches and Discontinuation of Services
Memo from: Bishop Mark To: All Clergy Date: April 1, 2020 Re: Closure of Churches and Discontinuation of Services Today, state health officials today announced 962 new COVID-19 cases as the statewide total jumped to almost 6,000. Pennsylvania’s death toll climbed to...
New Directives
As part of a continuing effort to protect the health and safety of parishioners, clergy, and staff, Bishop Mark L. Bartchak has issued new directives, which include closing all church buildings to the public and prohibiting outdoor activities on parish properties...
Holy Week Resources
Palm Sunday Proclaim! at 10:30 a.m. on WATM ABC 23Bishop Mark explains ways to engage in the solemnity of Holy Week at homeClergy offer messages of hope during these challenging times Mass with Bishop Mark11:00 a.m. on WATM ABC 239:00 p.m. on Atlantic Broadband...
Bishop’s Easter Message
It sounds so awkward to say Happy Easter this year. During the past month, people everywhere added new words to their vocabulary: Coronavirus and COVID-19. The dreaded virus that these words represent made us learn another dimension of living as we “shelter in place.”...
Saint of the Day
St. Willibald: Saint of the Day for Sunday, June 07, 2020
Bishop and missionary. A native of Wessex, England, he was the brother of Sts. Winebald and Walburga and was related through his mother to the great St. Boniface. After studying in a monastery in Waitham, in Hampshire, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome (c. 722) with his...
St. Norbert: Saint of the Day for Saturday, June 06, 2020
St. Norbert was born at Xanten in the Rhineland, about the year 1080. The early part of his life was devoted to the world and its pleasures. He entered upon the ecclesiastical state in a worldly spirit. The thunderstorm had boiled up suddenly as Norbert was out...
St. Boniface of Mainz: Saint of the Day for Friday, June 05, 2020
Winfrith had expected to return to England from Friesland (in what is now Holland) in triumph. He had left the land where he was a respected scholar, teacher, and priest because he was convinced he was called to missionary work. He had argued and pestered his abbot...
St. Francis Caracciolo: Saint of the Day for Thursday, June 04, 2020
Founder of the Minor Clerks Regular with St. John Augustine Adorno. He was born in 1563, a member of a noble Neapolitan family. Though he had a rare skin disease, much like leprosy, Francis became a priest, at which time his skin disease disappeared. In 1588, he...
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, June 03, 2020
For those of us who think that the faith and zeal of the early Christians died out as the Church grew more safe and powerful through the centuries, the martyrs of Uganda are a reminder that persecution of Christians continues in modern times, even to the present day....
Sts. Marcellinus and Peter: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, June 02, 2020
Though we know very little about these two martyrs under Diocletian, there is no question that the early church venerated them. Evidence of the respect in which they were held are the basilica Constantine built over their tombs and the presence of their names in the...
St. Justin Martyr: Saint of the Day for Monday, June 01, 2020
Christian apologist, born at Flavia Neapolis, about A.D. 100, converted to Christianity about A.D. 130, taught and defended the Christian religion in Asia Minor and at Rome, where he suffered martyrdom about the year 165. Two "Apologies" bearing his name and his...
St. Mechtildis: Saint of the Day for Sunday, May 31, 2020
Benedictine abbess and miracle worker. She was the daughter of Count Berthold of Andechs, in modem Bavaria, Germany. The count and his wife, Sophia, founded a monastery on their esÂtate at Diessen, Bavaria, and placed Mechtildis there at the age of five. She became a...
St. Joan of Arc: Saint of the Day for Saturday, May 30, 2020
St. Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers and of France. On January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to pious parents of the French peasant class in the obscure village of Domremy, near the province of Lorraine. At a very early age, she was said to have heard the...
St. Maximinus of Trier: Saint of the Day for Friday, May 29, 2020
Bishop of Trier, Germany, from 332, and a miracle worker. He was probably born at Silly, France, and succeeded St. Agritus as bishop of Trier, giving refuge to St. Athanasius in 336. St. Paul, the patriarch of Constantinople, was also given MaximinusÂ? protection....
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Sunday, June 07, 2020
Daily Reading for Sunday June 7, 2020 Reading 1, Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9Responsorial Psalm, Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56Gospel, John 3:16-18Reading 2, Second Corinthians 13:11-13 Reading 1, Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first and, with the two...
Daily Readings for Saturday, June 06, 2020
Daily Reading for Saturday June 6, 2020 Reading 1, Second Timothy 4:1-8Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 71:8-9, 14-15, 16-17, 22Gospel, Mark 12:38-44 Reading 1, Second Timothy 4:1-8 1 Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I charge...
Daily Readings for Friday, June 05, 2020
Daily Reading for Friday June 5, 2020 Reading 1, Second Timothy 3:10-17Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168Gospel, Mark 12:35-37 Reading 1, Second Timothy 3:10-17 10 You, though, have followed my teaching, my way of life, my aims, my faith, my...
Daily Readings for Thursday, June 04, 2020
Daily Reading for Thursday June 4, 2020 Reading 1, Second Timothy 2:8-15Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14Gospel, Mark 12:28-34 Reading 1, Second Timothy 2:8-15 8 Remember the gospel that I carry, 'Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, June 03, 2020
Daily Reading for Wednesday June 3, 2020 Reading 1, Second Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 123:1-2, 2Gospel, Mark 12:18-27 Reading 1, Second Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12 1 From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God in accordance with his promise...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, June 02, 2020
Daily Reading for Tuesday June 2, 2020 Reading 1, Second Peter 3:12-15, 17-18Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 90:2, 3-4, 10, 14, 16Gospel, Mark 12:13-17 Reading 1, Second Peter 3:12-15, 17-18 12 while you wait for the Day of God to come, and try to hasten its coming: on...
Daily Readings for Monday, June 01, 2020
Daily Reading for Monday June 1, 2020 Reading 1, Genesis 3: 9-15, 20Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 87: 1-2, 3, 5, 6-7Gospel, John 19: 25-34 Reading 1, Genesis 3: 9-15, 20 9 But Yahweh God called to the man. 'Where are you?' he asked. 10 'I heard the sound of you in the...
Daily Readings for Sunday, May 31, 2020
Daily Reading for Sunday May 31, 2020 Reading 1, Acts 2:1-11Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34Gospel, John 20:19-23Reading 2, First Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 Reading 1, Acts 2:1-11 1 When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, 2 when...
Daily Readings for Saturday, May 30, 2020
Daily Reading for Saturday May 30, 2020 Reading 1, Acts 28:16-20, 30-31Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 11:4, 5, 7Gospel, John 21:20-25 Reading 1, Acts 28:16-20, 30-31 16 On our arrival in Rome Paul was allowed to stay in lodgings of his own with the soldier who guarded...
Daily Readings for Friday, May 29, 2020
Daily Reading for Friday May 29, 2020 Reading 1, Acts 25:13-21Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20Gospel, John 21:15-19 Reading 1, Acts 25:13-21 13 Some days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. 14 Their...