PENNSYLVANIA
Church Militant
by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com • March 11, 2016
“[T]he focus should be on the victims of abuse”
ALTOONA, Penn. (ChurchMilitant.com) – A Pennsylvania bishop is ordering banners honoring two disgraced bishops to be taken down “indefinitely.”
The decision from Bp. Mark Bartchak of Altoona-Johnstown came last Friday following the release of a grand jury report implicating the diocese’s two previous bishops in a four-decade cover-up of over 50 homosexual priests. The two banners, which hung in the nave of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona, bore the names of Bp. James Hogan and Bp. Joseph Adamec, along with the title “The Most Reverend” and their respective positions as the sixth and seventh bishops of the Altoona-Johnstown diocese.
ChurchMilitant.com learned from the diocese that in addition to the two banners for Hogan and Adamec, the remaining six honoring Altoona-Johnstown’s other bishops were also removed. Moreover the diocese has taken down featured portraits of all eight prelates.
According to diocesan spokesman Tony DeGol, the bishop “feels this is a time of humility for the diocese and the focus should be on the victims of abuse.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.