Joseph Victor Adamec


Joseph Victor Adamec was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania from 1987 to 2011. On March 1, 2016, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane implied that as bishop, Adamec led a major cover-up scandal involving the sexual assault of hundreds of children by Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown priests.

Biography

Adamec was born in Bannister, Michigan the son of Michal August Adamec and Alzbeta Eva Ochran Adamec. He attended Michigan State University from 1953 to 1955, and studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical Nepomucene College in Rome and earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in 1961. He was ordained by Luigi Cardinal Traglia in the Church of St. Anselm in Rome on July 3, 1960, for the Diocese of Nitra in Slovakia.
Adamec returned to serve the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan where he served in numerous capacities including Secretary of the Bishop and Master of Ceremonies, ecclesiastical notary, and Chancellor of the Diocese. In 1980 he received the "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" medal which recognized service to the Church and Pope. In 1985, he was named a Prelate of Honor. Adamec also served as the National President of the Slovak Catholic Federation, a position he was elected to in 1971 and held for seventeen years.
On March 12, 1987, Adamec was named the bishop of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. He was consecrated on May 20, 1987, in the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament by Jozef Cardinal Tomko.
His retirement and the appointment of his successor were announced on January 14, 2011. Mark Leonard Bartchak, of the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, was named his successor.

Episcopal succession