Current Events and News
From the Diocese
Lenten Spiritual Opportunities
Various parishes in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown are sponsoring spiritual enrichment opportunities during the Lenten season. Novena to Saint Anthony of PaduaSaint Francis of Assisi Parish in JohnstownTuesdays in LentNovena prayed after 6:30 p.m. Mass Holy...
Memory Walk in Honor of Sister Margie
By Tony DeGolProclaim! Carol Babinsack sums it up well when she says that the late Sister Margie Monahan was a cherished friend to many people. “She was always there,” pointed out Babinsack, a member of Saint Stephen Parish in McConnellsburg. “She was willing to help....
March For Life 2020
Groups from throughout the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown traveled to Washington, D.C., on January 24 for the March for Life. Bishop Mark traveled by bus with a group from the Altoona area organized by the Blair County chapter of Citizens Concerned for Human Life. In...
Bishop Suspends Precious Blood During Flu Season
Bishop Mark L. Bartchak has directed that the Precious Blood not be distributed in any form at Mass beginning the weekend of January 11 and 12, 2020, and continuing until further notice. The directive is due to the severity of the flu season. It is the belief of the...
Answers to Your Questions about Our Response to the Victims of Sexual Abuse
The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has released a financial summary of the costs related to clergy sexual abuse from July 1, 1999, to December 1, 2018. The summary is included in the December 10, 2018, edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Register. It is...
Independent Oversight Board Report
The Independent Oversight Board for Youth Protection of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has issued its first Annual Report on reforms developed and implemented by the Diocese for the protection of children and youth, concluding that “much has been done, but much is...
Victim Assistance
For almost two decades, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has been committed to providing pastoral care and financial support to the victims and survivors of sexual abuse. The diocese began a Victim Assistance Program in 1999, and, since that time, assistance in the...
Independent Oversight Board
Bishop Mark Bartchak and Acting United States Attorney Soo Song have announced the names of the individuals appointed to the Independent Oversight Board for Youth Protection for the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Click below for the media advisory from the Department...
Review Board
Bishop Mark Bartchak has announced the appointment of an entirely new membership for the Diocesan Review Board, which assists in the assessment of allegations of sexual abuse of minors and a cleric’s suitability for ministry. The new members are: Rev. Leo ArnoneJoyce...
Reforms to Protect Children
On March 6, 2017, Bishop Mark L. Bartchak and Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced reforms by the Diocese to protect children from sexual abuse, ensure that all allegations of sexual abuse are immediately reported to law enforcement, and provide victims...
Saint of the Day
St. Ignatius Loyola: Saint of the Day for Friday, July 31, 2026
Born Inigo Lopez de Loyola in 1491, the man known as Ignatius of Loyola entered the world in Loiola, Spain. At the time, the name of the village was spelled "Loyola," hence the discrepancy. Inigo came of age in Azpeitia, in northern Spain. Loyola is a small village at...
St. Peter Chrysologus: Saint of the Day for Thursday, July 30, 2026
St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Feast-July 30) Born at Imola, Italy in 380, St. Peter was baptized, educated, and ordained a deacon by Cornelius, Bishop of Imola. St. Peter merited being called "Chrysologus" (golden-worded) from his exceptional...
St. Martha: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, July 29, 2026
"Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus." This unique statement in John's gospel tells us of the special relationship Jesus had with Martha, her sister, and her brother. Apparently Jesus was a frequent guest at Martha's home in Bethany, a small village two miles from...
St. Innocent I: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Innocent was born at Albano, Italy. He became Pope, succeeding Pope St. Anastasius I, on December 22, 401. During Innocent's pontificate, he emphasized papal supremacy, commending the bishops of Africa for referring the decrees of their councils at Carthage and...
St. Pantaleon: Saint of the Day for Monday, July 27, 2026
St Pantaleon came from Nicomedia, near the Black Sea, in Asia. He was such a famous doctor that the Emperor himself chose him for his own doctor. Pantaleon was a Christian, but the bad influence from the pagan court caused him to give up his Christian faith entirely....
Sts. Joachim and Anne: Saint of the Day for Sunday, July 26, 2026
Saints Joachim (sometimes spelled "Joaquin," pronounced "wal-keem") and Anne, are the parents of the Virgin Mary. There are no mentions of them in the Bible or Gospels, what we know comes from Catholic legend and the Gospel of James, which is an unsanctioned,...
St. James the Greater: Saint of the Day for Saturday, July 25, 2026
Nothing is known of St. James the Greater's early life, though it has been established that he is the son of Zebedee and Salome and brother of John the disciple. The title "the Greater" was added to St. James' name to help distinguish him from the Apostle James "the...
St. John Boste: Saint of the Day for Friday, July 24, 2026
One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was born at Dufton, at Westmoreland, England, and studied at Oxford. Becoming a Catholic in 1576, he went to Reims and received ordination in 1581. John went back to England where he worked in the northern parts of the...
St. Bridget of Sweden: Saint of the Day for Thursday, July 23, 2026
Saint Birgitta was the daughter of Uppland�s Lagman, Birger Petersson and his wife, Ingeborg, who was a member of the same clan as the reigning family. Birgitta�s family was pious; her father went to confession every Friday and made long and arduous...
St. Mary Magdalene: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, July 22, 2026
St. Mary Magdalene is one of the greatest saints of the Bible and a legendary example of God's mercy and grace. The precise dates of her birth and death are unknown, but we do know she was present with Christ during his public ministry, death and resurrection. She is...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Friday, July 31, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 26:1-9 1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh,2 'Yahweh says this, "Stand in the court of the Temple of Yahweh. To all the people from the towns of Judah who come to worship...
Daily Readings for Thursday, July 30, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 18:1-6 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh as follows,2 'Get up and make your way down to the potter's house, and there I shall tell you what I have to say.'3 So I went down to the potter's house; and there he was, working at the wheel.4...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21 10 A disaster for me, mother, that you bore me to be a man of strife and dissension for the whole country. I neither lend nor borrow, yet all of them curse me.16 When your words came, I devoured them: your word was my delight and the...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 14:17-22 17 'So say this word to them: May my eyes shed tears night and day, unceasingly, since the daughter of my people has sustained a fearsome wound, a crippling injury.18 If I go into the countryside, there lie those killed by the sword; if I...
Daily Readings for Monday, July 27, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 13:1-11 1 Yahweh said this to me, 'Go and buy a linen waistcloth and put it round your waist. But do not dip it in water.'2 And so, as Yahweh had ordered, I bought a waistcloth and put it round my waist.3 A second time the word of Yahweh came to...
Daily Readings for Sunday, July 26, 2026
Daily Reading for Sunday July 26, 2026 Reading 1, First Kings 3:5, 7-12Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130Gospel, Matthew 13:44-52Reading 2, Romans 8:28-30 Printable PDF of Today's Reading Past / Future Daily Readings Reading 1, First Kings...
Daily Readings for Saturday, July 25, 2026
Reading 1, Second Corinthians 4:7-15 7 But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God's and not our own.8 We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair;9 we are...
Daily Readings for Friday, July 24, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 3:14-17 14 "Come back, disloyal children, Yahweh declares, for I alone am your Master, and I will take you, one from a town, two from a family, and bring you to Zion.15 I shall give you shepherds after my own heart, who will pasture you wisely and...
Daily Readings for Thursday, July 23, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,2 'Go and shout this in Jerusalem's ears: 'Yahweh says this: "I remember your faithful love, the affection of your bridal days, when you followed me through the desert, through a land...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Reading 1, Second Corinthians 5:14-17 14 For the love of Christ overwhelms us when we consider that if one man died for all, then all have died;15 his purpose in dying for all humanity was that those who live should live not any more for themselves, but for him who...