Current Events and News
From the Diocese
Memory Walk in Honor of Sister Margie
By Tony DeGolProclaim! Carol Babinsack sums it up well when she says that the late Sister Margie Monahan was a cherished friend to many people. “She was always there,” pointed out Babinsack, a member of Saint Stephen Parish in McConnellsburg. “She was willing to help....
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. William of York: Saint of the Day for Monday, June 08, 2026
St. William of York, Bishop (Feast day is June 8th). William of York was the son of Count Herbert, treasurer to Henry I. His mother Emma, was the half-sister of King William. Young William became treasurer of the church of York at an early age and was elected...
St. Willibald: Saint of the Day for Sunday, June 07, 2026
Bishop and missionary. A native of Wessex, England, he was the brother of Sts. Winebald and Walburga and was related through his mother to the great St. Boniface. After studying in a monastery in Waitham, in Hampshire, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome (c. 722) with his...
St. Colman of Dromore: Saint of the Day for Sunday, June 07, 2026
The first bishop of Dromore in County Down, was this St. Colman, who founded a monastery there, probably about the year 514. He was venerated from early times in Scotland as well as in Ireland, and under the date of June 7 we find him mentioned in several of the...
St. Norbert: Saint of the Day for Saturday, June 06, 2026
St. Norbert was born at Xanten in the Rhineland, about the year 1080. The early part of his life was devoted to the world and its pleasures. He entered upon the ecclesiastical state in a worldly spirit. The thunderstorm had boiled up suddenly as Norbert was out...
St. Boniface of Mainz: Saint of the Day for Friday, June 05, 2026
Born around 675 in Wessex, England, Saint Boniface, originally named Winfrith, became one of the greatest missionaries in Church history and is remembered as the "Apostle of Germany." Raised in a Christian family, he felt drawn to religious life from a young age after...
St. Francis Caracciolo: Saint of the Day for Thursday, June 04, 2026
Founder of the Minor Clerks Regular with St. John Augustine Adorno. He was born in 1563, a member of a noble Neapolitan family. Though he had a rare skin disease, much like leprosy, Francis became a priest, at which time his skin disease disappeared. In 1588, he...
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, June 03, 2026
For those of us who think that the faith and zeal of the early Christians died out as the Church grew more safe and powerful through the centuries, the martyrs of Uganda are a reminder that persecution of Christians continues in modern times, even to the present day....
Sts. Marcellinus and Peter: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, June 02, 2026
Though we know very little about these two martyrs under Diocletian, there is no question that the early church venerated them. Evidence of the respect in which they were held are the basilica Constantine built over their tombs and the presence of their names in the...
St. Justin Martyr: Saint of the Day for Monday, June 01, 2026
Christian apologist, born at Flavia Neapolis, about A.D. 100, converted to Christianity about A.D. 130, taught and defended the Christian religion in Asia Minor and at Rome, where he suffered martyrdom about the year 165. Two "Apologies" bearing his name and his...
St. Joan of Arc: Saint of the Day for Saturday, May 30, 2026
St. Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers and of France. On January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to pious parents of the French peasant class in the obscure village of Domremy, near the province of Lorraine. At a very early age, she was said to have heard the...
Daily Reading
Daily Readings for Tuesday, June 09, 2026
Reading 1, First Kings 17:7-16 7 But after a while the stream dried up, for the country had had no rain.8 And then the word of Yahweh came to him,9 'Up and go to Zarephath in Sidonia, and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to give you food.'10 So he went off to...
Daily Readings for Monday, June 08, 2026
Reading 1, First Kings 17:1-7 1 Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, 'By the life of Yahweh, God of Israel, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain these coming years unless I give the word.'2 The word of Yahweh came to him,3 'Go away from...
Daily Readings for Sunday, June 07, 2026
Reading 1, Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16 2 Remember the long road by which Yahweh your God led you for forty years in the desert, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart -- whether you would keep his commandments or not.3 He humbled you, he made you feel...
Daily Readings for Saturday, June 06, 2026
Reading 1, Second Timothy 4:1-8 1 Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I charge you, in the name of his appearing and of his kingdom:2 proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct...
Daily Readings for Friday, June 05, 2026
Reading 1, Second Timothy 3:10-17 10 You, though, have followed my teaching, my way of life, my aims, my faith, my patience and my love, my perseverance11 and the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in places like Antioch, Iconium and Lystra -- all the...
Daily Readings for Thursday, June 04, 2026
Reading 1, Second Timothy 2:8-15 8 Remember the gospel that I carry, 'Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David';9 it is on account of this that I have to put up with suffering, even to being chained like a criminal. But God's message cannot be...
Daily Readings for Wednesday, June 03, 2026
Reading 1, Second Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12 1 From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God in accordance with his promise of life in Christ Jesus,2 to Timothy, dear son of mine. Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.3 Night...
Daily Readings for Tuesday, June 02, 2026
Reading 1, Second Peter 3:12-15, 17-18 12 while you wait for the Day of God to come, and try to hasten its coming: on that Day the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat.13 What we are waiting for, relying on his promises, is the new heavens and...
Daily Readings for Monday, June 01, 2026
Reading 1, Second Peter 1:2-7 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of our Lord.3 By his divine power, he has lavished on us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, through the knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory...
Daily Readings for Sunday, May 31, 2026
Reading 1, Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first and, with the two tablets of stone in his hands, Moses went up Mount Sinai in the early morning as Yahweh had ordered.5 And Yahweh descended in a cloud and stood with him there and...