Bishop Bartchak is a priest of the Erie Diocese and has served in a variety of capacities. He was ordained thirty years ago, I believe, and is a young bishop. May he serve the Faithful of Altoona-Johnstown for many years. I attended college and theology at Saint Francis College (now Saint Francis University of Loretto) and Saint Francis Seminary (now a Federal, maximum security prison - it was not "maximum" in those days) in that diocese. My two priest classmates from that Diocese have both gone home to heaven, but I have other friends there, and I assure them of my prayers for them and their new bishop. Their previous bishop, before Bishop Adamec, was Bishop James Hogan, who conferred all of the minor Orders as well as Diaconate on me. My priesthood was conferred by our own, late, Bishop William Connare.
The ceremony today was long, steeped in tradition and history, beautiful, and filled with the power of God's Spirit. Those who planned the day did well. The Cathedral is an impressive building on the top of a hill in Altoona. When I was in Scottdale, we made a pilgrimage there with many of our parishioners.
Many years and many blessings to our new neighboring bishop.
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This morning I attended the funeral of a good friend from Scottdale whose wife was a parishioner at Saint John the Baptist parish there. Bob Wingert belonged to Trinity Reformed Church in Scottdale all of his life. I hope that his fellow church members are not offended, but Bob was a better catholic than many catholics that I know. He was a true gentleman and a man of deep Faith and abundant goodness. May he rest in peace.
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