Current Events and News
From the Diocese
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...
Liturgical Directives
The following directives were communicated to the clergy of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown on March 17, 2020. The directives remain in effect until further notice. If questions arise concerning the impact of these directives, please contact your pastor for further...
Saint of the Day
St. Sabina: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, August 29, 2023
St. Sabina's feast day is August 29th. We know St. Sabina only through legend, and there is some question as to it's trustworthiness. Even the century in which she lived is unknown. Supposedly Sabina was converted to Christianity by her Syrian servant Serapia. During...
St. Augustine of Hippo: Saint of the Day for Monday, August 28, 2023
St. Augustine of Hippo is the patron of brewers because of his conversion from a former life of loose living, which included parties, entertainment, and worldly ambitions. His complete turnaround and conversion has been an inspiration to many who struggle with a...
St. Monica: Saint of the Day for Sunday, August 27, 2023
Saint Monica, also known as Monica of Hippo, is St. Augustine of Hippo's mother. She was born in 331 A.D. in Tagaste, which is present-day Algeria. When she was very young, she was married off to the Roman pagan Patricius, who shared his mother's violent temper....
St. Teresa of Jesus Jornet Ibars: Saint of the Day for Saturday, August 26, 2023
Foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Born in Catalonia, Spain, she overcame many difficulties in her youth and eventually became a teacher at Lerida. Desirous to enter the religious life, she failed to win entry into the convent at the advice of her spiritual...
St. Louis King of France: Saint of the Day for Friday, August 25, 2023
St. Louis, King of France, patron of Tertiaries, was the ninth of his name. He was born at Poissy, France, in 1214. His father was Louis VIII, and his mother was Blanche, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castille, surnamed the Conqueror. At the age of twelve he lost his...
St. Bartholomew: Saint of the Day for Thursday, August 24, 2023
St. Bartholomew, 1st. century, one of the 12. All that is known of him with certainty is that he is mentioned in the synoptic gospels and Acts as one of the twelve apostles. His name, a patronymic, means "son of Tolomai" and scholars believe he is the same as...
St. Philip Benizi: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Servite cardinal and preacher. Born in Florence, Italy, to a noble family, he was educated in Paris and Padua where he earned a doctorate in medicine and philosophy. He practiced medicine for some time, but in 1253 he joined the Servite Order in Florence. He served as...
St. Andrew the Scot: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Archdeacon and companion of St. Donatus. Andrew and his sister, St. Bridget the Younger, were born in Ireland of noble parents.They were educated by St. Donatus, and when Donatus went on a pilgrimage to Italy, Andrew accompanied him. In Fiesole, through a miracle,...
St. Pius X: Saint of the Day for Monday, August 21, 2023
On June 2, 1835, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto saw the light of earth at Riesi, Province of Treviso, in Venice; on August 20, 1914, he saw the light of heaven; and on May 29, 1954, he who had become the two hundred fifty-ninth pope was canonized St. Pius X. Two of the...
St. Bernard of Clairvaux: Saint of the Day for Sunday, August 20, 2023
St. Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church St. Bernard was born of noble parentage in Burgundy, France, in the castle of Fontaines near Dijon. Under the care of his pious parents he was sent at an early age to a college at Chatillon, where he was conspicuous for his...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Reading 1, Jeremiah 1:17-19 17 'As for you, prepare yourself for action. Stand up and tell them all I command you. Have no fear of them and in their presence I will make you fearless.18 For look, today I have made you into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of...
Daily Readings for Monday, August 28, 2023
FREE Catholic Classes Pick a class, you can learn anything Reading 1, First Thessalonians 1:2-5, 8-10 2 We always thank God for you all, mentioning you in our prayers continually.3 We remember before our God and Father how active is the faith, how unsparing the love,...
Daily Readings for Sunday, August 27, 2023
Reading 1, Isaiah 22:15, 19-23 15 The Lord Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Go and find that steward, Shebna, the master of the palace:19 I shall hound you from your office, I shall snatch you from your post20 and, when that day comes, I shall summon my servant Eliakim son...
Daily Readings for Saturday, August 26, 2023
Reading 1, Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17 1 Naomi had a kinsman on her husband's side, well-to-do and of Elimelech's clan. His name was Boaz.2 Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, 'Let me go into the fields and glean ears of corn in the footsteps of some man who will look on...
Daily Readings for Friday, August 25, 2023
Reading 1, Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14-16, 22 1 In the days when the Judges were governing, a famine occurred in the country and a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went-he, his wife and his two sons -- to live in the Plains of Moab.3 Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she...
Daily Readings for Thursday, August 24, 2023
Reading 1, Revelation 21:9-14 9 One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came to speak to me and said, 'Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.'10 In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Reading 1, Judges 9:6-15 6 All the leading men of Shechem and all Beth-Millo then met and proclaimed Abimelech king at the oak of the cultic stone at Shechem.7 News of this was brought to Jotham. He went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted at the top of...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Reading 1, Judges 6:11-24 11 The Angel of Yahweh came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah which belonged to Joash of Abiezer. Gideon his son was threshing wheat inside the wine-press, to keep it hidden from Midian,12 and the Angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said,...
Daily Readings for Monday, August 21, 2023
Reading 1, Judges 2:11-19 11 The Israelites then did what is evil in Yahweh's eyes and served the Baals.12 They deserted Yahweh, God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt, and they followed other gods, from those of the surrounding peoples. They bowed...
Daily Readings for Sunday, August 20, 2023
Daily Reading for Sunday August 20, 2023 Reading 1, Isaiah 56:1, 6-7Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8Gospel, Matthew 15:21-28Reading 2, Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 Printable PDF of Today's Reading Past / Future Daily Readings We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away....