Current Events and News
From the Diocese
Bishop’s Directives for Distribution of Palms
January 2021Ample instructions for the Commemoration of the Lord’s Entrance into Jerusalem are found in the Roman Missal for the celebration of Palm Sunday. Three Forms are provided for this observance. Given the circumstances of the COVID pandemic, and in order to...
Vaccine Q&A
From the United States Conference of Catholic BishopsJanuary 2021The development of vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has received much public attention and raised several ethical questions related to their development and use. This document is intended to...
Christmas TV Show
Proclaim! TV is celebrating the glory of Christmas with a television special, “Joy to the World: Christmas in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.”Hosted and produced by Tony DeGol, Diocesan Director of Communications, the two-hour show will highlight...
God Saves
Christmas just won’t be the same this year. How many of us have heard those words lately? As a result of an invisible virus, people will not be getting together with extended family and friends to celebrate Christmas. Who would have thought that shoppers would be more...
Diocese to Broadcast Christmas Masses and Christmas TV Special
As part of its continuing efforts to keep local Catholics connected during the coronavirus pandemic, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown is pleased to offer expanded television opportunities through its Proclaim! TV Ministry this Christmas.Bishop Mark Bartchak...
Parishes Announce Christmas Mass Schedule
By Justin KirklandProclaim!As Catholics, there is no better way to celebrate and experience God’s presence with us then in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Through the Mass, we are able to deepen our relationship with God, who came to us in the most unlikely way during...
Vaccine Clarification
By Tony DeGolProclaim!Bishop Mark Bartchak is joining other bishops in the United States in clarifying recent confusion regarding the “moral permissibility” of vaccines for COVID-19. According to Bishop Kevin Rhoades and Archbishop Joseph Naumann, vaccines from Pfizer...
What Comes After the Election Season?
A Reflection by Bishop MarkSince Election Day, I have received a few comments and concerns about Catholic Church leaders who have communicated with Joseph Biden. The focus of these concerns are political and religious. The political concern is that communication with...
Bishop Announces Directives for Advent Reconciliation and Christmas Masses
By Tony DeGolProclaim!In most parishes, the first vigil Mass on Christmas Eve usually attracts a ton of people with hardly an empty seat in the church. It is a challenging situation under normal circumstances, but especially worrisome during a pandemic. To help...
Advent Reconciliation Opportunities
By Justin KirklandProclaim!The Church celebrates Advent as a time that we may prepare our souls for the birth of Christ. Traditionally, before every major feast, time was taken by the faithful to prepare their hearts, through prayer, fasting, and penance. Christ came...
Saint of the Day
St. Anthony of Padua: Saint of the Day for Saturday, June 13, 2026
Discover More About St. Anthony of Padua with Journey with the Saints Saint Anthony was born Fernando Martins in Lisbon, Portugal. He was born into a wealthy family and by the age of fifteen asked to be sent to the Abbey of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, the then capital of...
St. John of Sahagun: Saint of the Day for Friday, June 12, 2026
John Gonzales de Castrillo was born at Sahagun, Leon Spain. He was educated by the Benedictine monks of Fagondez monastery there and when twenty, received a canonry from the bishop of Burgos, though he already had several benefices. He was ordained in 1445; concerned...
St. Barnabas: Saint of the Day for Thursday, June 11, 2026
All we know of Barnabas is to be found in the New Testament. A Jew, born in Cyprus and named Joseph, he sold his property, gave the proceeds to the Apostles, who gave him the name Barnabas, and lived in common with the earliest converts to Christianity in Jerusalem....
St. Getulius: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Martyr with Amantius, Caerealis, and Primitivus. He was the husband of St. Symphorosa. An officer in the Roman army, he resigned when he became a Christian and returned to his estates near Tivoli, Italy. There he converted Caerealis, an imperial legate sent to arrest...
St. Ephrem: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, June 09, 2026
"I was born in the way of truth: though my childhood was unaware of the greatness of the benefit, I knew it when trial came." Ephrem (or Eprhaim) the Syrian left us hundreds of hymns and poems on the faith that inflamed and inspired the whole Church, but few facts...
St. William of York: Saint of the Day for Monday, June 08, 2026
St. William of York, Bishop (Feast day is June 8th). William of York was the son of Count Herbert, treasurer to Henry I. His mother Emma, was the half-sister of King William. Young William became treasurer of the church of York at an early age and was elected...
St. Willibald: Saint of the Day for Sunday, June 07, 2026
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. Colman of Dromore: Saint of the Day for Sunday, June 07, 2026
The first bishop of Dromore in County Down, was this St. Colman, who founded a monastery there, probably about the year 514. He was venerated from early times in Scotland as well as in Ireland, and under the date of June 7 we find him mentioned in several of the...
St. Norbert: Saint of the Day for Saturday, June 06, 2026
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, 2026
Born around 675 in Wessex, England, Saint Boniface, originally named Winfrith, became one of the greatest missionaries in Church history and is remembered as the "Apostle of Germany." Raised in a Christian family, he felt drawn to religious life from a young age after...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Saturday, June 13, 2026
Reading 1, First Kings 19:19-21 19 Leaving there, he came on Elisha son of Shaphat as he was ploughing behind twelve yoke of oxen, he himself being with the twelfth. Elijah passed near to him and threw his cloak over him.20 Elisha left his oxen and ran after Elijah....
Daily Readings for Friday, June 12, 2026
Reading 1, Deuteronomy 7:6-11 6 For you are a people consecrated to Yahweh your God; of all the peoples on earth, you have been chosen by Yahweh your God to be his own people.7 'Yahweh set his heart on you and chose you not because you were the most numerous of all...
Daily Readings for Thursday, June 11, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 11:21-26; 13:1-3 21 The Lord helped them, and a great number believed and were converted to the Lord.22 The news of them came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas out to Antioch.23 There he was glad to see for himself that God...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Reading 1, First Kings 18:20-39 20 Ahab called all Israel together and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.21 Elijah stepped out in front of all the people. 'How long', he said, 'do you mean to hobble first on one leg then on the other? If Yahweh is God, follow...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, June 09, 2026
Reading 1, First Kings 17:7-16 7 But after a while the stream dried up, for the country had had no rain.8 And then the word of Yahweh came to him,9 'Up and go to Zarephath in Sidonia, and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to give you food.'10 So he went off to...
Daily Readings for Monday, June 08, 2026
Reading 1, First Kings 17:1-7 1 Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, 'By the life of Yahweh, God of Israel, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain these coming years unless I give the word.'2 The word of Yahweh came to him,3 'Go away from...
Daily Readings for Sunday, June 07, 2026
Reading 1, Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16 2 Remember the long road by which Yahweh your God led you for forty years in the desert, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart -- whether you would keep his commandments or not.3 He humbled you, he made you feel...
Daily Readings for Saturday, June 06, 2026
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 you, in the name of his appearing and of his kingdom:2 proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct...
Daily Readings for Friday, June 05, 2026
Reading 1, Second Timothy 3:10-17 10 You, though, have followed my teaching, my way of life, my aims, my faith, my patience and my love, my perseverance11 and the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in places like Antioch, Iconium and Lystra -- all the...
Daily Readings for Thursday, June 04, 2026
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 David';9 it is on account of this that I have to put up with suffering, even to being chained like a criminal. But God's message cannot be...