Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown

Ordinaries

The bishops of the diocese and their tenures of service:

1. Eugene A. Garvey (appointed 31 May 1901 – died 22 October 1920)
2. John Joseph McCort (succeeded 22 October 1920 – died 21 April 1936)
3. Richard Thomas Guilfoyle (appointed 8 August 1936 – died 10 June 1957)
4. Howard Joseph Carroll (appointed 5 December 1957 – died 21 March 1960)
5. Joseph Carroll McCormick (appointed 25 June 1960 – appointed Bishop of Scranton 4 March 1966)
6. James John Hogan (appointed 23 May 1966 – retired 17 October 1986)
7. Joseph Victor Adamec (appointed 12 March 1987 – retired 14 January 2011)
8. Mark Leonard Bartchak (appointed 14 January 2011 – Present)

Grand Jury Investigation of Sexual Abuse

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. 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 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."

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. The grand jury recommended legislation so the statute of limitations would not prevent future prosecutions in similar cases. Large amounts of money were paid to some victims. Bishop James John Hogan and Bishop Joseph Victor Adamec were noted because they covered up abuse and safeguarded the Roman Catholic Church from bad publicity rather than protecting innocent children. Monsignor Michael Servinsky, who served under Hogan, Adamec and the current Bishop, Mark Bartchak, was called to testify in December 2015. Servinsky, who was involved in multiple investigations of priest abuse, had just been relieved of duty as Vicar General on September 4, 2015. Servinsky exercised his 5th Amendment to be free from self-incrimination. Dozens of priests were detailed in the grand jury report, including: Father David Arsenault, Brother Stephen Baker who committed suicide in 2013, Father Charles Bodziak, Father Martin Cingle and Father Joseph Maurizio who was convicted of sex crimes in 2015.