Current Events and News
From the Diocese
Update on Diocesan Directives for Health and Safety During the Coronavirus Pandemic
A Message from Bishop Mark – August 6, 2020By now you have heard about a person who tested positive for the Coronavirus and attended Mass last weekend at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish, Johnstown. Public notice was made with due regard for the teaching and discipline...
Individual Who Was Present at Local Mass Tests Positive for COVID-19
An individual who attended Mass at a parish in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has tested positive for COVID-19.The person attended the 4:00 p.m. Mass at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Johnstown on Saturday, August 1. Weekend Masses at Saint Francis of Assisi have...
A Message from Bishop Mark
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Someone recently told me that she could hear the sigh of relief recently as restrictions were lifted that allowed for our churches to reopen. Numerous people have remarked how grateful they are to attend Sunday Mass and receive the...
Welcome Back to Sunday Mass!
As Sunday and Weekday Masses are now being celebrated, there has been a steady increase in the number of people who are attending. So far, there has been a positive response to the precautions of placing donations in the basket at the end of Mass, using face masks and...
Summer Missionary Cooperative Program
[Description of program] To search for your local summer missionary, simply click on the name of your parish (separated by city) below, and you will be redirected. Alternatively, click here to jump to the full list of summer missionaries. If you wish to make a...
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...
Saint of the Day
St. Agnes: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, January 21, 2026
St. Agnes of Rome was born in 291 AD and raised in a Christian family. Agnes was very beautiful and belonged to a wealthy family. Her hand in marriage was highly sought after, and she had many high ranking men chasing after her. However, Agnes made a promise to God...
St. Fabian: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Eusebius, born just a few years after Fabian's death, tells us how Fabian came to Rome after Pope Anteros died in 236. A layperson, and not a very important one, he may have come for the same reason many still come to Rome today during a papal election: concern for...
St. Fillan: Saint of the Day for Monday, January 19, 2026
Fillan, son of Feriach and St. Kentigerna, was also known as Foelan. He became a monk in his youth and accompanied his mother from Ireland to Scotland where he lived as a hermit near St. Andrew's monastery for many years, and then was elected abbot. He later resigned...
St. Volusian: Saint of the Day for Sunday, January 18, 2026
Bishop of Tours, France. A senator at Tours, he was initially married, supposedly to a most unpleasant wife. Named bishop of the city in 488, he was forced to leave the see in 496 by the Arian Visigoths, and went to Spain. He died perhaps in Toulouse, or in Spain,...
St. Anthony the Abbot: Saint of the Day for Saturday, January 17, 2026
Two Greek philosophers ventured out into the Egyptian desert to the mountain where Anthony lived. When they got there, Anthony asked them why they had come to talk to such a foolish man? He had reason to say that -- they saw before them a man who wore a skin, who...
St. Fursey: Saint of the Day for Friday, January 16, 2026
Irish monastic founder, the brother of Sts. Foillan and Ulan, praised by St. Bede. Fursey was born on the island of Inisguia en Lough Carri, Ireland, as a noble. He founded Rathmat Abbey, now probably Killursa. In 630 Fursey and his friends went to East Anglia,...
St. Paul the Hermit: Saint of the Day for Thursday, January 15, 2026
Also known as Paul the First Hermit and Paul of Thebes, an Egyptian hermit and friend of St. Jerome. Born in Lower The baid, Egypt, he was left an orphan at about the age of fifteen and hid during the persecution of the Church under Emperor Traj anus Decius. At the...
St. Felix of Nola: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Felix was the son of Hermias, a Syrian who had been a Roman soldier. He was born on his father's estate at Nola near Naples, Italy. On the death of his father, Felix distributed his inheritance to the poor, was ordained by Bishop St. Maximus of Nola, and became his...
St. Hilary of Poitiers: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, January 13, 2026
"They didn't know who they were." This is how Hilary summed up the problem with the Arian heretics of the fourth century. Hilary, on the other hand, knew very well who he was -- a child of a loving God who had inherited eternal life through belief in the Son of God....
St. Marguerite Bourgeoys: Saint of the Day for Monday, January 12, 2026
Marguerite had survived many threats in the twenty-six years she had been in wilderness of Canada. She had lived through Iroquois attacks, a fire that destroyed her small village, plagues on the ships that she took back and forth to France, but nothing threatened her...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51 32 David said to Saul, 'Let no one be discouraged on his account; your servant will go and fight this Philistine.'33 Saul said to David, 'You cannot go and fight the Philistine; you are only a boy and he has been a warrior since...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 16:1-13 1 Yahweh said to Samuel, 'How much longer do you mean to go on mourning over Saul, now that I myself have rejected him as ruler of Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have found myself a king...
Daily Readings for Monday, January 19, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 15:16-23 16 Samuel then said to Saul, 'Stop! Let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.' He said, 'Go on.'17 Samuel said, 'Small as you may be in your own eyes, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king...
Daily Readings for Sunday, January 18, 2026
Daily Reading for Sunday January 18, 2026 Reading 1, Isaiah 49:3, 5-6Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10Gospel, John 1:29-34Reading 2, Corinthians 1:1-3 Printable PDF of Today's Reading Past / Future Daily Readings Reading 1, Isaiah 49:3, 5-6 3 He said to...
Daily Readings for Saturday, January 17, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1 1 Among the men of Benjamin was a man called Kish son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah; a Benjaminite and a person of rank.2 He had a son called Saul, a handsome man in the prime of life. Of all the Israelites...
Daily Readings for Friday, January 16, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22 4 The elders of Israel all assembled, went back to Samuel at Ramah, and said,5 'Look, you are old, and your sons are not following your example. So give us a king to judge us, like the other nations.'6 Samuel thought that it was wrong of...
Daily Readings for Thursday, January 15, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 4:1-11 1 and, for all Israel, the word of Samuel was as the word of Yahweh; since Eli was very old and his sons persisted in their wicked behaviour towards Yahweh. It happened at that time that the Philistines mustered to make war on Israel and...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20 1 Now, the boy Samuel was serving Yahweh in the presence of Eli; in those days it was rare for Yahweh to speak; visions were uncommon.2 One day, it happened that Eli was lying down in his room. His eyes were beginning to grow dim; he...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 1:9-20 9 When they had finished eating in the room, Hannah got up and stood before Yahweh. Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.10 In the bitterness of her soul she prayed to Yahweh with many tears,11 and she...
Daily Readings for Monday, January 12, 2026
Reading 1, Samuel 1:1-8 1 There was a man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the highlands of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.2 He had two wives, one called Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had...