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. Paul of the Cross: Saint of the Day for Sunday, October 20, 2024
St. Paul of the Cross was born at Ovada in the Republic of Genoa, January 3, 1694. His infancy and youth were spent in great innocence and piety. He was inspired from on high to found a congregation; in an ecstacy he beheld the habit which he and his companions were...
Sts. Isaac Jogues and Rene Goupil: Saint of the Day for Saturday, October 19, 2024
In 1642 the Huron country was in great distress. Harvests were poor, sickness abounded, and clothing was scarce. Quebec was the only source of supplies, and Isaac Jogues was chosen to lead an expedition. It reached its objective safely and started back well supplied...
St. Luke: Saint of the Day for Friday, October 18, 2024
Luke, the writer of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, has been identified with St. Paul's "Luke, the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). We know few other facts about Luke's life from Scripture and from early Church historians. It is believed that Luke was...
St. Ignatius of Antioch: Saint of the Day for Thursday, October 17, 2024
"I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire." In 107, during the reign of the brutal Emperor Trajan, this holy Bishop was...
St. Gerard Majella: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, October 16, 2024
St. Gerard Majella is the patron of expectant mothers. He was born in 1726 in Muro, Italy to a family of seven. Majella grew up in a poverty with a great respect for the poor. As he was just 12 when his father passed away, he was forced to grow up fast. Shortly after...
St. Teresa of Avila: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Teresa of Avila was born Teresa Ali Fatim Corella Sanchez de Capeda y Ahumada in Avila, Spain. Less than twenty years before Teresa was born in 1515, Columbus opened up the Western Hemisphere to European colonization. Two years after she was born, Luther started the...
St. Callistus I: Saint of the Day for Monday, October 14, 2024
Imagine that your biography was written by an enemy of yours. And that its information was all anyone would have not only for the rest of your life but for centuries to come. You would never be able to refute it -- and even if you couldno one would believe you because...
St. Edward the Confessor: Saint of the Day for Sunday, October 13, 2024
Edward the Confessor was the son of King Ethelred III and his Norman wife, Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy. He was born at Islip, England, and sent to Normandy with his mother in the year 1013 when the Danes under Sweyn and his son Canute invaded England....
St. Wilfrid: Saint of the Day for Saturday, October 12, 2024
Born in Northumberland in 634, St. Wilfrid was educated at Lindesfarne and then spent some time in Lyons and Rome. Returning to England, he was elected abbot of Ripon in 658 and introduced the Roman rules and practices in opposition to the celtic ways of northern...
St. John XXIII: Saint of the Day for Friday, October 11, 2024
The man who would be Pope John XXIII was born in the small village of Sotto il Monte in Italy, on November 25, 1881. He was the fourth of fourteen children born to poor parents who made their living by sharecropping. Named Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, the baby would...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Saturday, October 19, 2024
Reading 1, Ephesians 1:15-23 15 That is why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all God's holy people,16 have never failed to thank God for you and to remember you in my prayers.17 May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father...
Daily Readings for Friday, October 18, 2024
Reading 1, Second Timothy 4:9-17 9 Make every effort to come and see me as soon as you can.10 As it is, Demas has deserted me for love of this life and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia;11 only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with...
Daily Readings for Thursday, October 17, 2024
Reading 1, Ephesians 1:3-10 3 Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.4 Thus he chose us in Christ before the world was made to be holy and faultless before him in love,5 marking us...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Reading 1, Galatians 5:18-25 18 But when you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.19 When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: sexual vice, impurity, and sensuality,20 the worship of false gods and sorcery; antagonisms and rivalry, jealousy,...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Reading 1, Galatians 5:1-6 1 Christ set us free, so that we should remain free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be fastened again to the yoke of slavery.2 I, Paul, give you my word that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you at...
Daily Readings for Monday, October 14, 2024
Reading 1, Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1 22 Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave girl and one by the freewoman.23 The son of the slave girl came to be born in the way of human nature; but the son of the freewoman came to be born through a...
Daily Readings for Sunday, October 13, 2024
Reading 1, Wisdom 7:7-11 7 And so I prayed, and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.8 I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I held riches as nothing.9 I reckoned no precious stone to be her equal,...
Daily Readings for Saturday, October 12, 2024
Reading 1, Galatians 3:22-29 22 As it is, scripture makes no exception when it says that sin is master everywhere; so the promise can be given only by faith in Jesus Christ to those who have this faith.23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the Law,...
Daily Readings for Friday, October 11, 2024
Reading 1, Galatians 3:7-14 7 Be sure, then, that it is people of faith who are the children of Abraham.8 And it was because scripture foresaw that God would give saving justice to the gentiles through faith, that it announced the future gospel to Abraham in the...
Daily Readings for Thursday, October 10, 2024
Reading 1, Galatians 3:1-5 1 You stupid people in Galatia! After you have had a clear picture of Jesus Christ crucified, right in front of your eyes, who has put a spell on you?2 There is only one thing I should like you to tell me: How was it that you received the...