Current Events and News
From the Diocese
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...
Diocese to Livestream Triduum Services
The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has announced plans to livestream Triduum services with Bishop Mark Bartchak as presider and homilist, in addition to the regularly scheduled television broadcast of the Bishop’s Easter Sunday Mass. The following is a schedule: Holy...
Closure of Churches and Discontinuation of Services
Memo from: Bishop Mark To: All Clergy Date: April 1, 2020 Re: Closure of Churches and Discontinuation of Services Today, state health officials today announced 962 new COVID-19 cases as the statewide total jumped to almost 6,000. Pennsylvania’s death toll climbed to...
New Directives
As part of a continuing effort to protect the health and safety of parishioners, clergy, and staff, Bishop Mark L. Bartchak has issued new directives, which include closing all church buildings to the public and prohibiting outdoor activities on parish properties...
Holy Week Resources
Palm Sunday Proclaim! at 10:30 a.m. on WATM ABC 23Bishop Mark explains ways to engage in the solemnity of Holy Week at homeClergy offer messages of hope during these challenging times Mass with Bishop Mark11:00 a.m. on WATM ABC 239:00 p.m. on Atlantic Broadband...
Bishop’s Easter Message
It sounds so awkward to say Happy Easter this year. During the past month, people everywhere added new words to their vocabulary: Coronavirus and COVID-19. The dreaded virus that these words represent made us learn another dimension of living as we “shelter in place.”...
Blessed Palm
As parishes and the faithful look ahead to Palm Sunday next weekend, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown continues to be aware of the need for social distancing and other necessary precautions. Bishop Mark has directed parishes to not distribute blessed palm to the...
Governor Wolf extended his “Stay at Home” Order
Dear Brothers in Christ, Earlier today Governor Wolf extended his "Stay at Home" order to include Centre County. In keeping with our protocols announced earlier (March 20), in order to protect the faithful and follow this important restriction put in place by the...
Memo from: Bishop Mark
Memo from: Bishop Mark To: All Clergy Date: March 25, 2020 Re: Celebration of the Liturgies of Holy Week and Especially the Sacred Triduum In this time of need, directives have been issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as...
Bishop Suspends All Public Masses
Bishop Mark L. Bartchak announced the suspension of the celebration of all public Masses and all other liturgical celebrations in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown effective March 17, 2020, and continuing until further notice. Throughout this time, the dispensed...
Saint of the Day
St. John Francis Regis: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, June 16, 2026
St. John Francis Regis Confessor of the Society of Jesus June 16 True virtue, or Christian perfection, consists not in great or shining actions, but resides in the heart, and appears to great edification, though in the usual train of common and religious duties...
St. Germaine Cousin: Saint of the Day for Monday, June 15, 2026
When Hortense decided to marry Laurent Cousin in Pibrac, France, it was not out of love for his infant daughter. Germaine was everything Hortense despised. Weak and ill, the girl had also been born with a right hand that was deformed and paralyzed. Hortense replaced...
St. Methodius I: Saint of the Day for Sunday, June 14, 2026
Patriarch of Constantinople, modem Istanbul. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily, and builta monastery on the island of Chios. After some time in Constantinople, he was sent to Rome in 815 as the representative of Patriarch Nicephorus, who was exiled by Emperor Leo V the...
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...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Reading 1, Second Kings 2:1, 6-14 1 This is what happened when Yahweh took Elijah up to heaven in the whirlwind: Elijah and Elisha set out from Gilgal,6 Elijah said, 'Elisha, you stay here, Yahweh is only sending me to the Jordan.' But he replied, 'As Yahweh lives and...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Reading 1, First Kings 21:17-29 17 Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite,18 'Up! Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, in Samaria. You will find him in Naboth's vineyard; he has gone down to take possession of it.19 You are to say this to him, "Yahweh...
Daily Readings for Monday, June 15, 2026
Reading 1, First Kings 21:1-16 1 This is what happened next: Naboth of Jezreel had a vineyard close by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria,2 and Ahab said to Naboth, 'Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it adjoins my palace; I will give you a better...
Daily Readings for Sunday, June 14, 2026
Reading 1, Exodus 19:2-6 2 Setting out from Rephidim, they reached the desert of Sinai and pitched camp in the desert; there, facing the mountain, Israel pitched camp.3 Moses then went up to God, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Say this to the...
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...