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. Basil the Great: Saint of the Day for Thursday, January 02, 2025
St. Basil the Great was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia in 330. He was one of ten children of St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia. Several of his brothers and sisters are honored among the saints. He attended school in Caesarea, as well as Constantinople and Athens,...
Mary the Blessed Virgin: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, January 01, 2025
Mary, also known as St. Mary the Virgin, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Mary, Mary Mother of God or the Virgin Mary is believed by many to be the greatest of all Christian saints. The Virgin Mother "was, after her Son, exalted by divine grace above all angels and...
St. Sylvester: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, December 31, 2024
St. Sylvester, born in Rome, was ordained by Pope St. Marcellinus during the peace that preceded the persecutions of Diocletian. He passed through those days of terror, witnessed the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, and saw the triumph of Constantine in the year...
St. Anysia: Saint of the Day for Monday, December 30, 2024
Martyr of Greece. She was a wealthy woman of Salonika, in Thessaly, who used her personal funds to aid the poor. A soldier accosted her in the street and tried to drag her to a pagan sacrifice. Anysia resisted and was killed when the soldier attacked her with his...
St. Aileran: Saint of the Day for Sunday, December 29, 2024
Monk, biographer, and scholar-also called Sapiens the Wise. Aileran was one of the most distinguished professors at the school of Clonard in Ireland. St. Finian welcomed Aileran to Clonard. In 650, Aileran became rector of Clonard, and was recognized as a classical...
St. Anthony the Hermit: Saint of the Day for Saturday, December 28, 2024
Anthony was born about circa 468 at Valeria in Lower Pannonia. When he was eight years old, his father died and he was first entrusted to the care of St. Severinus. After the death of Severinus, an uncle, Bishop Constantius of Lorsch in Bavaria took charge of his...
St. John the Apostle: Saint of the Day for Friday, December 27, 2024
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist St. John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and Salome, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. John was called to be an Apostle by our Lord in the first year of His public ministry. He is considered the same person as John the...
St. Stephen: Saint of the Day for Thursday, December 26, 2024
Saint Stephen was one of the first ordained deacons of the Church. He was also the first Christian martyr. The Greek word from which we derive the English word martyr literally means witness. In that sense, every Christian is called to bear witness to Jesus Christ, in...
St. Eugenia: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, December 25, 2024
There definitely was a Roman martyr named Eugenia but the rest of her story is a romantic fictitious legend. According to it she was the daughter of Duke Philip of Alexandria, governor of Egypt during the reign of Emporer Valerian. She fled her father's house dressed...
St. Adele: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, December 24, 2024
St. Adele, Widow. A daughter of King Dagobert II of Germany, St. Adele became a nun upon the death of her husband, making provisions for her son, the future father of St. Gregory of Utrecht. She founded a convent at Palatiolum near Trier and became its first Abbess,...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Monday, January 27, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 9:15, 24-28 15 This makes him the mediator of a new covenant, so that, now that a death has occurred to redeem the sins committed under an earlier covenant, those who have been called to an eternal inheritance may receive the promise.24 It is not as...
Daily Readings for Sunday, January 26, 2025
Daily Reading for Sunday January 26, 2025 Reading 1, Nehemiah 8:2-4, 5-6, 8-10Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 15Gospel, Luke 1:1-4,4:14-21Reading 2, First Corinthians 12:12-30 Printable PDF of Today's Reading Past / Future Daily Readings Reading 1, Nehemiah...
Daily Readings for Saturday, January 25, 2025
Reading 1, Acts 22:3-16 3 'I am a Jew', Paul said, 'and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. It was under Gamaliel that I studied and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God...
Daily Readings for Friday, January 24, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 8:6-13 6 As it is, he has been given a ministry as far superior as is the covenant of which he is the mediator, which is founded on better promises.7 If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no room for a second one to...
Daily Readings for Thursday, January 23, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 7:25-8:6 25 It follows, then, that his power to save those who come to God through him is absolute, since he lives for ever to intercede for them.26 Such is the high priest that met our need, holy, innocent and uncontaminated, set apart from...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17 1 Melchizedek, king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, came to meet Abraham when he returned from defeating the kings, and blessed him;2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. By the interpretation of his name, he is, first,...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 6:10-20 10 God would not be so unjust as to forget all you have done, the love that you have for his name or the services you have done, and are still doing, for the holy people of God.11 Our desire is that every one of you should go on showing the...
Daily Readings for Monday, January 20, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 5:1-10 1 Every high priest is taken from among human beings and is appointed to act on their behalf in relationships with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins;2 he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or who have gone astray, because he...
Daily Readings for Sunday, January 19, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 62:1-5 1 About Zion I will not be silent, about Jerusalem I shall not rest until saving justice dawns for her like a bright light and her salvation like a blazing torch.2 The nations will then see your saving justice, and all kings your glory, and...
Daily Readings for Saturday, January 18, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 4:12-16 12 The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgement on secret emotions and thoughts.13...