Current Events and News
From the Diocese
Bishop Suspends Precious Blood During Flu Season
Bishop Mark L. Bartchak has directed that the Precious Blood not be distributed in any form at Mass beginning the weekend of January 11 and 12, 2020, and continuing until further notice. The directive is due to the severity of the flu season. It is the belief of the...
Answers to Your Questions about Our Response to the Victims of Sexual Abuse
The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has released a financial summary of the costs related to clergy sexual abuse from July 1, 1999, to December 1, 2018. The summary is included in the December 10, 2018, edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Register. It is...
Independent Oversight Board Report
The Independent Oversight Board for Youth Protection of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has issued its first Annual Report on reforms developed and implemented by the Diocese for the protection of children and youth, concluding that “much has been done, but much is...
Victim Assistance
For almost two decades, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has been committed to providing pastoral care and financial support to the victims and survivors of sexual abuse. The diocese began a Victim Assistance Program in 1999, and, since that time, assistance in the...
Independent Oversight Board
Bishop Mark Bartchak and Acting United States Attorney Soo Song have announced the names of the individuals appointed to the Independent Oversight Board for Youth Protection for the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Click below for the media advisory from the Department...
Review Board
Bishop Mark Bartchak has announced the appointment of an entirely new membership for the Diocesan Review Board, which assists in the assessment of allegations of sexual abuse of minors and a cleric’s suitability for ministry. The new members are: Rev. Leo ArnoneJoyce...
Reforms to Protect Children
On March 6, 2017, Bishop Mark L. Bartchak and Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced reforms by the Diocese to protect children from sexual abuse, ensure that all allegations of sexual abuse are immediately reported to law enforcement, and provide victims...
Support for Survivors of Sexual Abuse
The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown is partnering with state and local agencies to offer support to survivors of sexual abuse. Resources and educational information will be featured regularly in the Diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Register, and on the Diocesan...
Saint of the Day
St. Louis King of France: Saint of the Day for Monday, August 25, 2025
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 Sunday, August 24, 2025
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 Saturday, August 23, 2025
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 Friday, August 22, 2025
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 Thursday, August 21, 2025
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 Wednesday, August 20, 2025
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...
St. John Eudes: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, August 19, 2025
John Eudes was born at Ri, Normandy, France, on November 14, 1601, the son of a farmer. He went to the Jesuit college at Caen when he was 14, and despite his parents' wish that he marry, joined the Congregation of the Oratory of France in 1623. He studied at Paris and...
St. Helena: Saint of the Day for Monday, August 18, 2025
St. Helena was the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great and an Empress of the Roman Empire. Very little is known about Helena's early life, but it is believed she is from Drepanum (later known as Helenopolis) in Asia Minor and born into a poor family and lower...
St. Clare of Montefalco: Saint of the Day for Sunday, August 17, 2025
Clare was born at Montefalco, Italy, around 1268. As a young woman she joined a convent of Franciscan tertiaries. This group established Holy Cross Convent at Montefalco in 1290, adopting the Rule of St. Augustine. Clare's sister Joan was the abbess of this community,...
St. Stephen the Great: Saint of the Day for Saturday, August 16, 2025
St. Stephen the Great (977-1038), was the son of the Magyar chieftain Geza, Stephen succeeded him as leader in 997. Already raised a Christian, in 996 he wed the daughter of Duke Henry II of Bavaria and devoted much of his reign to the promotion of the Christian...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Monday, August 25, 2025
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, how persevering the hope which you have from our Lord Jesus...
Daily Readings for Sunday, August 24, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 66:18-21 18 I am coming to gather every nation and every language. They will come to witness my glory.19 I shall give them a sign and send some of their survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coasts...
Daily Readings for Saturday, August 23, 2025
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 22, 2025
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 21, 2025
Reading 1, Judges 11:29-39 Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 40:5, 7-8, 8-9, 10 5 How much you have done, Yahweh, my God -- your wonders, your plans for us -- you have no equal. I will proclaim and speak of them; they are beyond number.7 then I said, 'Here I am, I am...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, August 20, 2025
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 19, 2025
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 18, 2025
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 17, 2025
Reading 1, Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10 4 The chief men then said to the king, 'You must have this man put to death: he is unquestionably disheartening the remaining soldiers in the city, and all the people too, by talking like this. This man is seeking not the welfare of...
Daily Readings for Saturday, August 16, 2025
Reading 1, Joshua 24:14-29 14 'So now, fear Yahweh and serve him truly and sincerely; banish the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.15 But if serving Yahweh seems a bad thing to you, today you must make up your minds whom...