CatholicTV to Air Ordination of Bishop-Elect Mark Bartchak of Altoona-Johnstown Pennsylvania

On April 20th, CatholicTV will air the Ordination and Installation Mass of Bishop-elect Mark Bartchak.

The Mass will air at CatholicTV.com and on CatholicTV cable outlets at noon (Eastern) and will be rebroadcast at 8PM. After the broadcast, the entire Mass will be viewable anytime at http://www.CatholicTV.com/catholic-television

Bishop-elect Bartchak has held a variety of positions throughout his 29-year-long priesthood.

Some unique ministries he has been involved in include: confessor at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. He’s also celebrated Mass each month for the men in the Erie County Prison. He has been a confessor at the Catholic chapel at the largest retail shopping center in northwestern Pennsylvania.

On the day it was announced that Bartchak would be the new bishop, he said, “To be a good pastor, I will certainly need the continued help of God’s grace and the prayers of all the people, so please pray for me. I will do my best to take to heart some advice spoken to me in recent days; to get to know the good people of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and allow them to share Christ with me as much as I am called to share Christ with them.

I know that above all, a bishop is to be a pastor. To be a good pastor, a diocesan bishop especially needs the help of the priests who are so closely connected with God’s people in our parishes and schools. I want the priests of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown to know that I understand the blessings and the challenges of the ministry and life to which you have dedicated yourselves since the time of your ordination. I will do my best to help you and support you in that ministry and life we share.” He will succeed Bishop Joseph Adamec, who has been the bishop of Altoona-Johnstown since March 12, 1987

Bishop-elect Bartchak’s college studies were at St. Mark Seminary and Gannon University, Erie, PA, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy in 1977. He also studied for the priesthood at Christ the King Seminary, East Aurora, NY, receiving a Master of Arts degree in Theology in 1981. He studied canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. where he received the Licentiate degree in 1989 and the Doctorate degree in 1992. At the time Bartchak was named the new Bishop, he was Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Erie, PA.