Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown

Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown Dioecesis Altunensis-Johnstoniensis
The coat of arms of the Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown
Location
Country	United States of America
Territory	Pennsylvania counties of Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clinton, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset
Ecclesiastical province	Philadelphia
Statistics
Area	6,674 sq mi (17,290 km2)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2012) 678,000 109,500 (16.2%)
Parishes	88
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	May 30, 1901 Diocese of Altoona October 9, 1957 Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament (Altoona)
Co-cathedral	St. John Gualbert Cathedral (Johnstown)
Patron saint	Mary, Mother of the Church [1]
Secular priests	131
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Mark Leonard Bartchak Bishop of Altoona-Johnstown
Metropolitan Archbishop	Charles Joseph Chaput Archbishop of Philadelphia
Emeritus Bishops	Joseph Victor Adamec Bishop Emeritus of Altoona-Johnstown
Map
Website
ajdiocese.org

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown (Latin: Dioecesis Altunensis-Johnstoniensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania.

It was established on May 30, 1901, as the Diocese of Altoona. On October 9, 1957, the name was changed to the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

It consists of Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clinton, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset Counties.

The diocese also sponsors Proclaim!, a weekly Catholic news show, and a weekly live mass from St. John Gualbert Cathedral in Johnstown.

The seat of the bishop is in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

Bishops

The bishops of the diocese and their tenures of service:

Parishes

The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona

St. John Gualbert Cathedral in Johnstown

Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel in Loretto

Schools

Sexual abuse controversy

On March 1, 2016, a Pennsylvania grand jury investigating the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown reported that at least 50 priests and others associated with the church had abused hundreds of children across nearly half a century, and that diocesan leadership actively concealed the abuse^[2]. Much of the abuse happened between the 1940s and 1980s, but many of the victims came forward in more recent decades to report the priest to the diocese. While the report^[3] suggested that local law enforcement and prosecutors should have been more aggressive in pursuing victims' stories, it says two former bishops were primarily to blame for the decades of concealment: James Hogan, who served from 1966 to 1986 and died in 2005, and Joseph Adamec, who served from 1987 to 2011 and is now retired. Those bishops "took actions that further endangered children as they placed their desire to avoid public scandal over the well-being of innocent children ... Priests were returned to ministry with full knowledge they were child predators."^[4] Monsignor Michael Servinsky, who served under Hogan, Adamec and the current Bishop, Mark Bartchak, were called to testify before a grand jury.^[5] In his testimony, Bartchak acknowledged that dozens of Catholic figures who were stationed in the Diocese's small town communities abused children between the 1950s and 1990s.^[6] Though it was also acknowledged that Adamec had created a system to ensure that hush money would be supplied to the victims of sex abuse in the Diocese,^[5] Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, herself a Catholic,^[5] refused to file any criminal charges by the time the testimony was made public in March 2016.^[5] Servinsky had also been executive to Bishop Hogan's estate, and, along with Adamec, was named as a co-defendant in a lawsuit which began against accused priest Charles Bodziak which started in 2016.^[7] The lawsuit against Bodziak was dismissed in December 2017.^[8]

Despite identifying hundreds of cases of suspected abuse, the grand jury and the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General were not able to recommend criminal charges, because many of the cases were too old, and the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution had elapsed^[9] Bishop James John Hogan and Bishop Joseph Victor Adamec are noted because they covered up abuse and safeguarded the Roman Catholic Church from bad publicity rather than protecting innocent children.^[10]

Former Erie priest and current Bishop of Altoona-Johnstown Mark Bartchak was also criticized in the August 2018 grand jury investigation for his handling of 2005 investigation against former Erie priest William Presley.^[11] Bartchak was assigned by the Vatican during this time to investigate claims against Presley, who served in the Erie Diocese between 1963 and 1986, and continuously re-interviewed a male victim who previously disclosed his alleged abuse to the diocese in 1982, 1987 and 2002.^[11] On Aug. 25, 2005, Bartchak sent a secret memo to then-Erie Bishop Donald Walter Trautman.^[11] Parts of the memo read “I was not surprised to learn from other witnesses from the Elk County area, that there are likely to be other victims” and that "it is likely that there may be others who were also of the age for the offenses to be considered delicts, but to what end is it necessary to follow every lead?”^[11] Bartchak also stated in another secret memo following a meeting with Trautman on August 29, 2005 "Bishop Trautman decided that in order to preclude further scandal, these additional witnesses should not be contacted, especially given the fact that it is not likely that they will lead to information concerning delicts involving minors under 16 years of age.”^[11]

See also

Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article Diocese of Altoona.

References

External links

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown Official Site

Coordinates: 40°27′13″N 78°23′39″W / 40.45369°N 78.39403°W / 40.45369; -78.39403