Current Events and News
From the Diocese
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...
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. Athanasius: Saint of the Day for Saturday, May 02, 2026
St. Athanasius, also known as Athanasius the Great and Athanasius the Confessor, was a bishop and doctor of the church. He is called the "Father of Orthodoxy," the "Pillar of the Church" and "Champion of Christ's Divinity." Athanasius became one of the most dedicated...
St. Marculf: Saint of the Day for Friday, May 01, 2026
Marculf is also known as Marcoul. He was born at Bayeux, Gaul, at noble parents. He was ordained when he was thirty, and did missionary work at Coutances. Desirous of living as a hermit, he was granted land by king Childebert at Nanteuil. He attracted numerous...
St. Pius V, Pope: Saint of the Day for Thursday, April 30, 2026
Pope from 1566-1572 and one of the foremost leaders of the Catholic Reformation. Born Antonio Ghislieri in Bosco, Italy, to a poor family, he labored as a shepherd until the age of fourteen and then joined the Dominicans, being ordained in 1528. Called Brother...
St. Catherine of Siena: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Discover More About St. Catherine of Siena with Journey with the Saints St. Catherine of Siena was born during the outbreak of the plague in Siena, Italy on March 25, 1347. She was the 25th child born to her mother, although half of her brothers and sisters did not...
St. Peter Chanel: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, April 28, 2026
In St. Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr (Feast day - April 28) The protomartyr of the South Seas, St. Peter Chanel was born in 1803 at Clet in the diocese of Belley, France. His intelligence and simple piety brought him to the attention of the local priest, Father...
St. Zita: Saint of the Day for Monday, April 27, 2026
St. Zita was born into a poor but holy Christian family. Her older sister became a Cistercian nun and her uncle Graziano was a hermit whom the local people regarded as a saint. Zita herself always tried to do God's will obediently whenever it was pointed out to her by...
St. Cletus: Saint of the Day for Sunday, April 26, 2026
St. Cletus was the third bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, (which Bossuet and all others agree...
St. Mark: Saint of the Day for Saturday, April 25, 2026
Discover More About St. Mark with Journey with the Saints Much of what we know about St. Mark, the author of the Second Gospel, comes largely from the New Testament and early Christian traditions. Mark the Evangelist is believed to be the 'John Mark' referred to in...
St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen: Saint of the Day for Friday, April 24, 2026
Franciscan Capuchin martyr. He was born Mark Rey is Sigmaringen, Germany, in 1577. A practicing lawyer, he traveled across Europe as a tutor to aristocrats but then started defending the poor. In 1612, he became a Franciscan Capuchin monk, taking the name of Fidelis....
St. George: Saint of the Day for Thursday, April 23, 2026
It is uncertain when Saint George was born and historians continue to debate to this day. However, his death date is estimated to be April 23, 303 A.D. The first piece of evidence of George's existance appeared within the works of the Bollandists Daniel Papebroch,...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Monday, May 04, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 14:5-18 5 but eventually with the connivance of the authorities a move was made by gentiles as well as Jews to make attacks on them and to stone them.6 When they came to hear of this, they went off for safety to Lycaonia where, in the towns of Lystra...
Daily Readings for Sunday, May 03, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 6:1-7 1 About this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked.2 So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and...
Daily Readings for Saturday, May 02, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 13:44-52 44 The next Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of God.45 When they saw the crowds, the Jews, filled with jealousy, used blasphemies to contradict everything Paul said.46 Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out fearlessly. 'We...
Daily Readings for Friday, May 01, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 13:26-33 26 'My brothers, sons of Abraham's race, and all you godfearers, this message of salvation is meant for you.27 What the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did, though they did not realise it, was in fact to fulfil the prophecies read on...
Daily Readings for Thursday, April 30, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 13:13-25 13 Paul and his companions went by sea from Paphos to Perga in Pamphylia where John left them to go back to Jerusalem.14 The others carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the Sabbath and took...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 12:24-13:5 24 The word of God continued to spread and to gain followers.25 Barnabas and Saul completed their task at Jerusalem and came back, bringing John Mark with them.1 In the church at Antioch the following were prophets and teachers: Barnabas,...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 11:19-26 19 Those who had scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but they proclaimed the message only to Jews.20 Some of them, however, who came from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to...
Daily Readings for Monday, April 27, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 11:1-18 1 The apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that gentiles too had accepted the word of God,2 and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers protested to him3 and said, 'So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating...
Daily Readings for Sunday, April 26, 2026
Reading 1, Acts 2:14, 36-41 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed them in a loud voice: 'Men of Judaea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, make no mistake about this, but listen carefully to what I say.36 'For this reason the whole House of Israel can...
Daily Readings for Saturday, April 25, 2026
Reading 1, First Peter 5:5-14 5 In the same way, younger people, be subject to the elders. Humility towards one another must be the garment you all wear constantly, because God opposes the proud but accords his favour to the humble.6 Bow down, then, before the power...