Current Events and News
From the Diocese
Summer Missionary Cooperative Program
[Description of program] To search for your local summer missionary, simply click on the name of your parish (separated by city) below, and you will be redirected. Alternatively, click here to jump to the full list of summer missionaries. If you wish to make a...
A Special Message from Bishop Mark
Young people in our diocese have frequently heard me tell them that the foundational principle of Catholic social teaching is the following: Every human person is made in the image and likeness of God. Period. It’s in the Sacred Scriptures (Genesis 1:27). No further...
New Directive Regarding Mass Atttendance
Bishop Mark has issued a new directive regarding the celebration of public Masses that lifts an earlier directive that would have limited the number of people permitted at each Mass to 25. When public Masses resume beginning the weekend of June 13-14, 2020, all are...
Parishes Announce Reconciliation Opportunities
Bishop Mark Bartchak has announced that the public celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation may resume at parishes beginning on May 23, 2020. Click HERE for a county-by-county schedule of upcoming Reconciliation opportunities at various parishes in the Diocese...
Dates for Public Confessions, Masses Announced
Bishop Mark has announced dates to resume the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the distribution of Holy Communion and the public celebration of Mass in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. According to the Bishop’s directives, issued on May 20, 2020, priests may resume the...
Bishop Announces Plan to Reopen Churches
The following is a message from Bishop Mark to all people of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown on May 13, 2020. Specific directives are being finalized and will be available prior the the reopening of church buildings on Saturday, May 16, which marks the...
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...
Saint of the Day
St. Martha: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, July 29, 2026
"Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus." This unique statement in John's gospel tells us of the special relationship Jesus had with Martha, her sister, and her brother. Apparently Jesus was a frequent guest at Martha's home in Bethany, a small village two miles from...
St. Innocent I: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Innocent was born at Albano, Italy. He became Pope, succeeding Pope St. Anastasius I, on December 22, 401. During Innocent's pontificate, he emphasized papal supremacy, commending the bishops of Africa for referring the decrees of their councils at Carthage and...
St. Pantaleon: Saint of the Day for Monday, July 27, 2026
St Pantaleon came from Nicomedia, near the Black Sea, in Asia. He was such a famous doctor that the Emperor himself chose him for his own doctor. Pantaleon was a Christian, but the bad influence from the pagan court caused him to give up his Christian faith entirely....
Sts. Joachim and Anne: Saint of the Day for Sunday, July 26, 2026
Saints Joachim (sometimes spelled "Joaquin," pronounced "wal-keem") and Anne, are the parents of the Virgin Mary. There are no mentions of them in the Bible or Gospels, what we know comes from Catholic legend and the Gospel of James, which is an unsanctioned,...
St. James the Greater: Saint of the Day for Saturday, July 25, 2026
Nothing is known of St. James the Greater's early life, though it has been established that he is the son of Zebedee and Salome and brother of John the disciple. The title "the Greater" was added to St. James' name to help distinguish him from the Apostle James "the...
St. John Boste: Saint of the Day for Friday, July 24, 2026
One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was born at Dufton, at Westmoreland, England, and studied at Oxford. Becoming a Catholic in 1576, he went to Reims and received ordination in 1581. John went back to England where he worked in the northern parts of the...
St. Bridget of Sweden: Saint of the Day for Thursday, July 23, 2026
Saint Birgitta was the daughter of Uppland�s Lagman, Birger Petersson and his wife, Ingeborg, who was a member of the same clan as the reigning family. Birgitta�s family was pious; her father went to confession every Friday and made long and arduous...
St. Mary Magdalene: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, July 22, 2026
St. Mary Magdalene is one of the greatest saints of the Bible and a legendary example of God's mercy and grace. The precise dates of her birth and death are unknown, but we do know she was present with Christ during his public ministry, death and resurrection. She is...
St. Lawrence of Brindisi: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Caesare de Rossi was born at Brandisi, kingdom of Naples, on July 22nd. He was educated by the conventual Franciscans there and by his uncle at St. Mark's in Venice. When sixteen, he joined the Capuchins at Verona, taking the name Lawrence. He pursued his higher...
St. Margaret of Antioch: Saint of the Day for Monday, July 20, 2026
Nothing certain is known of her, but according to her untrustworthy legend, she was the daughter of a pagan priest at Antioch in Pisidia. Also known as Marina, she was converted to Christianity, whereupon she was driven from home by her father. She became a...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21 10 A disaster for me, mother, that you bore me to be a man of strife and dissension for the whole country. I neither lend nor borrow, yet all of them curse me.16 When your words came, I devoured them: your word was my delight and the...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 14:17-22 17 'So say this word to them: May my eyes shed tears night and day, unceasingly, since the daughter of my people has sustained a fearsome wound, a crippling injury.18 If I go into the countryside, there lie those killed by the sword; if I...
Daily Readings for Monday, July 27, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 13:1-11 1 Yahweh said this to me, 'Go and buy a linen waistcloth and put it round your waist. But do not dip it in water.'2 And so, as Yahweh had ordered, I bought a waistcloth and put it round my waist.3 A second time the word of Yahweh came to...
Daily Readings for Sunday, July 26, 2026
Daily Reading for Sunday July 26, 2026 Reading 1, First Kings 3:5, 7-12Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130Gospel, Matthew 13:44-52Reading 2, Romans 8:28-30 Printable PDF of Today's Reading Past / Future Daily Readings Reading 1, First Kings...
Daily Readings for Saturday, July 25, 2026
Reading 1, Second Corinthians 4:7-15 7 But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God's and not our own.8 We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair;9 we are...
Daily Readings for Friday, July 24, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 3:14-17 14 "Come back, disloyal children, Yahweh declares, for I alone am your Master, and I will take you, one from a town, two from a family, and bring you to Zion.15 I shall give you shepherds after my own heart, who will pasture you wisely and...
Daily Readings for Thursday, July 23, 2026
Reading 1, Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,2 'Go and shout this in Jerusalem's ears: 'Yahweh says this: "I remember your faithful love, the affection of your bridal days, when you followed me through the desert, through a land...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Reading 1, Second Corinthians 5:14-17 14 For the love of Christ overwhelms us when we consider that if one man died for all, then all have died;15 his purpose in dying for all humanity was that those who live should live not any more for themselves, but for him who...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Reading 1, Micah 7:14-15, 18-20 14 With shepherd's crook lead your people to pasture, the flock that is your heritage, living confined in a forest with meadow land all round. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old!15 As in the days when you came out...
Daily Readings for Monday, July 20, 2026
Reading 1, Micah 6:1-4, 6-8 1 Now listen to what Yahweh says: 'Stand up, state your case to the mountains and let the hills hear what you have to say!'2 Listen, mountains, to the case as Yahweh puts it, give ear, you foundations of the earth, for Yahweh has a case...