Joseph Victor Adamec (Bishop)
Joseph Victor Adamec (Bishop)
Joseph Victor Adamec (born August 13, 1935) is a retired American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania from 1987 to 2011.
Adamec was born in Bannister, Michigan and studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical Nepomucene College in Rome and earned a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University.
He was ordained by Luigi Cardinal Tragilia in the Church of St. Anselm in Rome on July 3, 1960, for the Diocese of Nitra in Slovakia (the former diocese of his parents).
Adamec returned to serve the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan where he served in numerous capacities including Secretary of the Bishop and Master of Ceremonies, 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 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.
On March 1, 2016, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Jane announced that as Bishop, Hogan was at the forefront of a major cover-up scandal involving the sexual assault of hundreds of children by Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania priests most notoriously James John Hogan (Bishop).