Current Events and News
From the Diocese
Holy Week Directives
With public Masses and other liturgical gatherings suspended at least through Holy Week and Easter, Bishop Mark is inviting the faithful to watch the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown weekly television Mass on Passion (Palm) Sunday and Easter Sunday at 11:00 a.m. on WATM...
Television/Streaming Masses
During this time of no public Masses, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown is committed to continuing the weekly Proclaim! Television Ministry and Mass. Proclaim!Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WATM ABC 23 Mass with Bishop MarkSundays at 11:00 a.m. on WATM ABC23Sundays at...
Spirituality
PRAYER RECITED BY POPE FRANCISFOR THE PROTECTION OF THE WORLDO Mary,you always shine on our pathas a sign of salvation and of hope.We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm.You, Salvation of the...
Support Your Parish
Although public Masses are suspended until further notice, our Church is alive and still fulfilling its mission. Your parish will continue to bring you the light of Christ, but it needs your support. To assist parishes that do not currently offer...
Wine and Food Pairing
Much sweeter than the chocolate cake truffles and Moscato d’Asti at the recent Catholic Charities Wine and Food Pairing was a true story highlighting how the delightful evening helps our neighbors in need. At the conclusion of gathering at the Blairmont Club in...
Communal Penance Services
The season of Lent is a time to seek God’s healing and forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Many parishes are sponsoring Communal Penance Services in the coming weeks. The following parishes submitted schedules to the Office of Communications. Please...
Stations of the Cross
Most parishes invite the faithful to pray the Stations of the Cross during Lent. All parishes were invited to submit their schedule to the Office of Communications. The following is the schedule from the parishes that responded. BEDFORD COUNTY Saint John the...
Lenten Spiritual Opportunities
Various parishes in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown are sponsoring spiritual enrichment opportunities during the Lenten season. Novena to Saint Anthony of PaduaSaint Francis of Assisi Parish in JohnstownTuesdays in LentNovena prayed after 6:30 p.m. Mass Holy...
Memory Walk in Honor of Sister Margie
By Tony DeGolProclaim! Carol Babinsack sums it up well when she says that the late Sister Margie Monahan was a cherished friend to many people. “She was always there,” pointed out Babinsack, a member of Saint Stephen Parish in McConnellsburg. “She was willing to help....
March For Life 2020
Groups from throughout the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown traveled to Washington, D.C., on January 24 for the March for Life. Bishop Mark traveled by bus with a group from the Altoona area organized by the Blair County chapter of Citizens Concerned for Human Life. In...
Saint of the Day
St. Fabian: Saint of the Day for Monday, January 20, 2025
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 Sunday, January 19, 2025
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 Saturday, January 18, 2025
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 Friday, January 17, 2025
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 Thursday, January 16, 2025
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 Wednesday, January 15, 2025
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 Tuesday, January 14, 2025
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 Monday, January 13, 2025
"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 Sunday, January 12, 2025
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...
St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch: Saint of the Day for Saturday, January 11, 2025
Abbot and founder. Born at Garissus, Cappadocia (modern Turkey), in 423, he undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and after meeting with the famed St. Simeon Stylites, he entered a monastery. Later, he was named the head of a church between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Thursday, February 13, 2025
Reading 1, Genesis 2:18-25 18 Yahweh God said, 'It is not right that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper.'19 So from the soil Yahweh God fashioned all the wild animals and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Reading 1, Genesis 2:5-9, 15-17 5 there was as yet no wild bush on the earth nor had any wild plant yet sprung up, for Yahweh God had not sent rain on the earth, nor was there any man to till the soil.6 Instead, water flowed out of the ground and watered all the...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Reading 1, Genesis 1:20-2:4 20 God said, 'Let the waters be alive with a swarm of living creatures, and let birds wing their way above the earth across the vault of heaven.' And so it was.21 God created great sea-monsters and all the creatures that glide and teem in...
Daily Readings for Monday, February 10, 2025
Reading 1, Genesis 1:1-19 1 In the beginning God created heaven and earth.2 Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters.3 God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.4 God saw that light was...
Daily Readings for Sunday, February 09, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8 1 In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; his train filled the sanctuary.2 Above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings: two to cover its face, two to cover its feet and two for flying;3 and...
Daily Readings for Saturday, February 08, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21 15 Through him, let us offer God an unending sacrifice of praise, the fruit of the lips of those who acknowledge his name.16 Keep doing good works and sharing your resources, for these are the kinds of sacrifice that please God.17...
Daily Readings for Friday, February 07, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 13:1-8 1 Continue to love each other like brothers,2 and remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.3 Keep in mind those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them;...
Daily Readings for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24 18 What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or gloom or total darkness, or a storm;19 or trumpet-blast or the sound of a voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, February 05, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15 4 In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of bloodshed.5 Have you forgotten that encouraging text in which you are addressed as sons? My son, do not scorn correction from the Lord, do not resent his...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, February 04, 2025
Reading 1, Hebrews 12:1-4 1 With so many witnesses in a great cloud all around us, we too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us.2 Let us keep our...