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. Anselm: Saint of the Day for Monday, April 21, 2025
St. Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury and Confessor APRIL 21,A.D. 1109 IF the Norman conquerors stripped the English nation of its liberty, and many temporal advantages, it must be owned that by their valor they raised the reputation of its arms, and deprived their own...
St. Marian: Saint of the Day for Sunday, April 20, 2025
When St. Mamertinus was Abbot of the monastery which St. Germanus had founded at Auxerre, there came to him a young man called Marcian (also known as Marian), a fugitive from Bourges then occupied by the Visigoths. St. Mamertinus gave him the habit, and the novice...
St. Alphege: Saint of the Day for Saturday, April 19, 2025
Archbishop and "the First Martyr of Canterbury." He was born in 953 and became a monk in the Deerhurst Monastery in Gloucester, England, asking after a few years to become a hermit. He received permission for this vocation and retired to a small hut near Somerset,...
St. Apollonius the Apologist: Saint of the Day for Friday, April 18, 2025
Martyr whose Apologia, or defense of the faith, is considered one of the most priceless documents of the early Church. Apollonius was a Roman senator who was denounced as a Christian by one of his slaves. The Praetorian Prefect, Sextus Tigidius Perennis, arrested him,...
St. Anicetus: Saint of the Day for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Anicetus was a Syrian from Emesa. He became pope about 155 and actively opposed Marcionism and Gnosticism. His pontificate saw the appearance of the controversy between East and West over the date of Easter. St. Polycarp, a disciple of John, is reported to have...
St. Bernadette: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, April 16, 2025
St. Bernadette was born in Lourdes, France on January 7, 1844. Her parents were very poor and she was the first of nine children. She was baptized at St. Pierre's, the local parish church, on January 9. As a toddler, Bernadette contracted cholera and suffered extreme...
St. Paternus: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, April 15, 2025
St. Paternus.The first 5th century saint. He followed his father's path by becoming a hermit in Wales. He founded the monastery at the great church of Paternus, and became a bishop of that region. He was known for his preaching, charity and mortifications. Scholars...
St. Lydwine: Saint of the Day for Monday, April 14, 2025
St. Lydwine is the patroness of sickness Lydwine of Schiedam was born at Schiedam, Holland, one of nine children of a working man. After an injury in her youth, she became bedridden and suffered the rest of her life from various illnesses and diseases. She experienced...
Pope Saint Martin I: Saint of the Day for Sunday, April 13, 2025
Martin I lay too sick to fight on a couch in front of the altar when the soldiers burst into the Lateran basilica. He had come to the church when he heard the soldiers had landed. But the thought of kidnapping a sick pope from the house of God didn't stop the soldiers...
St. Julius: Saint of the Day for Saturday, April 12, 2025
Julius whose feast day is April 12th. Julius was the son of a Roman named Rusticus. He was elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Mark on February 6, 337. Julius was soon involved in the Arian controversy when Eusebius of Nicomedia opposed the return of Athanasius to the...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Reading 1, Acts 2:36-41 36 'For this reason the whole House of Israel can be certain that the Lord and Christ whom God has made is this Jesus whom you crucified.'37 Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'What are we to do,...
Daily Readings for Monday, April 21, 2025
Reading 1, Acts 2:14, 22-32 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed them in a loud voice: 'Men of Judaea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, make no mistake about this, but listen carefully to what I say.22 'Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to...
Daily Readings for Sunday, April 20, 2025
Reading 1, Acts 10:34, 37-43 34 Then Peter addressed them, 'I now really understand', he said, 'that God has no favourites,37 You know what happened all over Judaea, how Jesus of Nazareth began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism.38 God had anointed him...
Daily Readings for Saturday, April 19, 2025
Daily Reading for Saturday April 19, 2025 Reading 1, Genesis 1:1-2:2Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35Gospel, Luke 24:1-12Reading 2, Genesis 22:1-18 Printable PDF of Today's Reading Past / Future Daily Readings Reading 1, Genesis 1:1-2:2 1...
Daily Readings for Friday, April 18, 2025
Daily Reading for Friday April 18, 2025 Reading 1, Isaiah 52:13-53:12Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25Gospel, John 18:1-19:42Reading 2, Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 Printable PDF of Today's Reading Past / Future Daily Readings Reading 1, Isaiah...
Daily Readings for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Reading 1, Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 1 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,2 'This month must be the first of all the months for you, the first month of your year.3 Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, "On the tenth day of this month each man must take an...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 50:4-9 4 Lord Yahweh has given me a disciple's tongue, for me to know how to give a word of comfort to the weary. Morning by morning he makes my ear alert to listen like a disciple.5 Lord Yahweh has opened my ear and I have not resisted, I have not...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 49:1-6 1 Coasts and islands, listen to me, pay attention, distant peoples. Yahweh called me when I was in the womb, before my birth he had pronounced my name.2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword, he hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me into...
Daily Readings for Monday, April 14, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 42:1-7 1 Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have sent my spirit upon him, he will bring fair judgement to the nations.2 He does not cry out or raise his voice, his voice is not heard in the street;3 he does...
Daily Readings for Sunday, April 13, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 50:4-7 4 Lord Yahweh has given me a disciple's tongue, for me to know how to give a word of comfort to the weary. Morning by morning he makes my ear alert to listen like a disciple.5 Lord Yahweh has opened my ear and I have not resisted, I have not...