Welcome to the St. John Gualbert Cathedral web site. We are a vibrant and historic Roman Catholic Parish located in downtown Johnstown in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
We are the Johnstown Cathedral for the Diocese of Altoona Johnstown, and we are the original home of the Proclaim TV Ministry. Each week we broadcast video of our Sunday Mass for all who are homebound or otherwise unable to attend in person. Watching the Mass on TV or on-line does not take the place of being present in person, but it is a wonderful opportunity to witness, worship, pray and reflect as we each are part of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Our beautiful and historic cathedral was built with an unusual steel substructure after the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889, and we have a link to some of our parish history on this website. Our parish administers two historic cemeteries, St John Gualbert Catholic Cemetery and St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, both located in the Geistown section of Johnstown. Aerial maps are also on this website.
Our Cathedral and all our diocesan churches are now open for Mass and for the sacrament of Confession with specific Covid19 safety precautions. We invite you to visit and pray privately in our beautiful cathedral. Our current parish bulletin, shown below, provides our most up-to-date schedule and safety instructions.
If you would like to schedule a private confession, if you have any questions, or if you have an emergency, please contact our parish office at 814.536.0117. Thank you and may God bless you.
Public Masses have now resumed:
Weekend Masses:
Saturday: 5 PM
Sunday: 8 AM, 11 AM, 5 PM
(Please call in advance to reserve your household’s seat at weekend Masses: 814.536-0117.)
Daily Mass:
Monday- Friday: 8 AM and 12:05 PM
Saturday: 8 AM
The obligation to attend Sunday Mass continues to be suspended due to the COVID19 pandemic. If you do not wish to come in person, please remember you may watch and pray along with our televised Proclaim Mass.
When you come to Mass in-person , please adhere to the following guidelines:
1. Everyone (over three years of age) must wear a mask and observe social distancing.
2. We have marked eighty “socially-distant” seating locations in the cathedral. Spouses and families living in the same household are invited to come to Mass and sit in one of these marked locations.
3. On weekends we are asking that you call the rectory in advance to let us know that you are coming, and we will reserve a spot for your family group. Please call 536-0117 or contact Father Jim at 934-9605. This last number accepts text and voice messages. You may also e-mail Father Jim at: frjded@stroselima.com.
4. Only those with advance reservation will have admission for weekend Masses. (No reservations are needed for daily Mass.) When any Saturday or Sunday Mass reaches safe occupancy limits, you will have first access to Mass the following Sunday. On weekends our ushers will help each individual or household group to find a seating location. Click here for more Detailed Instructions on Procedures in Church as We Reopen.
5. We will continue outdoor distribution of Holy Communion for those unable to attend Sunday Mass. The distribution will be 12:30-1 PM each Sunday in the parking lot of our Activities Center.
Our 11 AM Sunday Mass continues to be broadcast each week. Please click here for web page with our most recent Sunday Masses.
Our Mass appears live each Sunday at 11 AM, on WATM ABC 23 in Johnstown and on Cornerstone TV Faith and Family Channel in Pittsburgh. It is then rebroadcast at 9 PM Sunday on Atlantic Broadband Public Access Channel 9 in Johnstown, and repeated on the Faith and Family Channel at 6 PM Wednesday and at 4 PM Thursday.
Our cathedral building has been described in a number of books and other publications. A short but comprehensive description and historic overview compiled by several authors is on-line at:
Satellite Dish at Rear of St John Gualbert Cathedral
Click here to download and print parish bulletin for week beginning July 5, 2020.
Bulletins for prior weeks are available at: Archive of Past Bulletins.
Vatican Grants Emergency Plenary Indulgence for Divine Mercy Chaplet
New Plenary Indulgence
Because of the pandemic, anyone who, with “the will to fullfil the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the Holy Father’s intentions), as soon as possible,” recites the Divine Mercy Chaplet with the intention “to implore from Almighty God the end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted and eternal salvation for those whom the Lord has called to Himself,” can receive a plenary indulgence each day.