Current Events and News

From the Diocese

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...

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...

What Did Pope Francis Say?

A Message from Bishop MarkOctober 23, 2020What did Pope Francis say? I have been asked that question this week since it has been reported that Pope Francis may have just changed the Church’s teaching about marriage. That conclusion was based on something the Holy...

Saint of the Day

Daily Reading

Daily Readings for Tuesday, June 03, 2025

Reading 1, Acts 20:17-27 17 From Miletus he sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus.18 When they arrived he addressed these words to them: 'You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia,19 how I have served the Lord...

Daily Readings for Monday, June 02, 2025

Reading 1, Acts 19:1-8 1 It happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul made his way overland as far as Ephesus, where he found a number of disciples.2 When he asked, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?' they answered, 'No, we were never...

Daily Readings for Sunday, June 01, 2025

Reading 1, Acts 7:55-60 55 But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand.56 'Look! I can see heaven thrown open,' he said, 'and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.'57 All the...

Daily Readings for Saturday, May 31, 2025

Reading 1, Zephaniah 3:14-18 14 Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, Israel, shout aloud! Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!15 Yahweh has repealed your sentence; he has turned your enemy away. Yahweh is king among you, Israel, you have nothing more...

Daily Readings for Friday, May 30, 2025

Reading 1, Acts 18:9-18 9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, 'Be fearless; speak out and do not keep silence:10 I am with you. I have so many people that belong to me in this city that no one will attempt to hurt you.'11 So Paul stayed there preaching the...

Daily Readings for Thursday, May 29, 2025

Reading 1, Acts 1:1-11 1 In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning2 until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven.3 He had shown...

Daily Readings for Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Reading 1, Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 15 Paul's escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could.22 So Paul stood before the whole council of the Areopagus and made this speech: 'Men of Athens, I...

Daily Readings for Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Reading 1, Acts 16:22-34 22 The crowd joined in and showed its hostility to them, so the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be flogged.23 They were given many lashes and then thrown into prison, and the gaoler was told to keep a close watch on them.24...

Daily Readings for Monday, May 26, 2025

Reading 1, Acts 16:11-15 11 Sailing from Troas we made a straight run for Samothrace; the next day for Neapolis,12 and from there for Philippi, a Roman colony and the principal city of that district of Macedonia.13 After a few days in this city we went outside the...