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. Chaeromon: Saint of the Day for Monday, December 22, 2025
Bishop of Nilopolis, in Egypt. When the persecution was instituted by Emperor Trajanus Decius, Chaeromon Was quite elderly. He and several companions fled into the Arabian desert and were never seen again. The bishop and his companions are listed as martyrs. Excellent...
St. Peter Canisius: Saint of the Day for Sunday, December 21, 2025
In 1565, the Vatican was looking for a secret agent. It was shortly after the Council of Trent and the pope wanted to get the decrees of the Council to all the European bishops. What would be a simple errand in our day, was a dangerous assignment in the sixteenth...
St. Dominic of Silos: Saint of the Day for Saturday, December 20, 2025
Benedictine abbot and defender of the faith. Born in Canas, Navarre, Spain, circa 1000, he entered the Benedictines at San Millan de Ia Cogolla. King Garcia III of Navarre challenged him when he became abbot of the monastery, and Dominic refused to surrender part of...
St. Nemesius: Saint of the Day for Friday, December 19, 2025
Martyr of Egypt. He was burned alive in Alexandria, Egypt, during the persecutions under Emperor Trajanus Decius. Nemesius was arrested and scourged and then burned to death. Like Christ, he was executed between two criminals. Excellent content provided by...
St. Rufus: Saint of the Day for Thursday, December 18, 2025
Rufus and Zosimus were citizens of Antioch (or perhaps Philippi) who were brought to Rome with St. Ignatius of Antioch during the reign of Emperor Trajan. They were condemned to death for their Christianity and thrown to wild beasts in the arena two days before the...
St. Olympias: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Olympias born into a wealthy noble Constantinople family. She was orphaned when a child and was given over to the care of Theodosia by her uncle, the prefect Procopius. She married Nebridius, also a prefect, was widowed soon after, refused several offers of marriage,...
St. Ado of Vienne: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, December 16, 2025
An archbishop and scholar, Ado was born in Sens and educated at the Benedictine abbey of Ferrieres. Abbot Lupus Servatus, an outstanding humanist of the time, trained Ado, and was impressed with the obvious holiness of the young man. A noble by birth, Ado renounced...
St. Mary Di Rosa: Saint of the Day for Monday, December 15, 2025
Saint Mary (Paula) Di Rosa December 15 The pounding on the barricaded door of the military hospital sent every heart thudding in terror. In the middle of the war in Brescia (Italy) in 1848, the wounded, sick, and those who cared for them knew what that pounding meant....
St. John of the Cross: Saint of the Day for Sunday, December 14, 2025
Saint John of the Cross was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, in Fontiveros, Avila, Spain in 1542. His father was employed by wealthy family members as an accountant, but they disowned him when he married a poor woman from the lower class. As a result of his family�s...
St. Lucy: Saint of the Day for Saturday, December 13, 2025
Lucy's history has been lost and all we really know for certain is that this brave woman who lived in Syracuse lost her life during the persecution of Christians in the early fourth century. Her veneration spread to Rome so that by the sixth century the whole Church...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Monday, December 22, 2025
Reading 1, First Samuel 1:24-28 24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, as well as a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and took him into the temple of Yahweh at Shiloh; the child was very young.25 They sacrificed the bull and led...
Daily Readings for Sunday, December 21, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 7:10-14 10 Yahweh spoke to Ahaz again and said:11 Ask Yahweh your God for a sign, either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above.12 But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask. I will not put Yahweh to the test.'13 He then said: Listen now, House of David:...
Daily Readings for Saturday, December 20, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 7:10-14 10 Yahweh spoke to Ahaz again and said:11 Ask Yahweh your God for a sign, either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above.12 But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask. I will not put Yahweh to the test.'13 He then said: Listen now, House of David:...
Daily Readings for Friday, December 19, 2025
Reading 1, Judges 13:2-7, 24-25 2 There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan, called Manoah. His wife was barren; she had borne no children.3 The Angel of Yahweh appeared to this woman and said to her, 'You are barren and have had no child, but you are going to...
Daily Readings for Thursday, December 18, 2025
Reading 1, Jeremiah 23:5-8 5 Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall raise an upright Branch for David; he will reign as king and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country.6 In his days Judah will triumph and Israel live in safety. And...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Reading 1, Genesis 49:2, 8-10 2 Gather round, sons of Jacob, and listen; listen to Israel your father.8 Judah, your brothers will praise you: you grip your enemies by the neck, your father's sons will do you homage.9 Judah is a lion's whelp; You stand over your prey,...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Reading 1, Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 1 Disaster to the rebellious, the befouled, the tyrannical city!2 She has not listened to the call, she has not bowed to correction, she has not trusted in Yahweh, she has not drawn near to her God.9 Yes, then I shall purge the lips of...
Daily Readings for Monday, December 15, 2025
Reading 1, Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17 2 Raising his eyes Balaam saw Israel settled tribe by tribe; the spirit of God came on him3 and he declaimed his poem, as follows: The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of the man with far-seeing eyes,4 the prophecy of one...
Daily Readings for Sunday, December 14, 2025
Reading 1, Isaiah 35:1-6, 10 1 Let the desert and the dry lands be glad, let the wasteland rejoice and bloom; like the asphodel,2 let it burst into flower, let it rejoice and sing for joy. The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;...
Daily Readings for Saturday, December 13, 2025
Reading 1, Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11 1 Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, his word flaring like a torch.2 It was he who brought famine on them and decimated them in his zeal.3 By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens, three times also he brought down fire.4...