PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC
BY LAUREN HENSLEY THURSDAY, MARCH 3RD 2016
ALTOONA, Pa.– The bishop of the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese broke his silence Thursday. Two days after a grand jury report into the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese was made public, Bishop Mark Bartchak, who spoke with the medi, broke his silence with an apology.
“I apologize to the victims, to their families, to the faithful people of our diocese to the good priest of our diocese and to the public,” Bartchak said.
During Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s press conference Tuesday, she said the grand jury commended Bartchak for removing accused priests during his five years as bishop and called his action positive steps to help protect children.
But the grand jury report condemned deceased Bishop James Hogan and retried Bishop Joseph Adamec. The report said the two covered up the sex abuse allegations. Adamec remains a fixture in the Blair County community, but that is changing.
“He said that he would not be celebrating mass at this time and anything that would happen further would not be for me to say because Bishops are subject to disciple from our superior who is the Pope,” Bartchak said.
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