PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ALTOONA — The large purple banners, in the symbolic color of penitence, and the subdued music fit the tone of the service Wednesday night at Altoona’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

Before scores of worshippers got up to make confessions to one of numerous priests who fanned out across the cavernous cathedral, Bishop Mark Bartchak offered a short homily, reflecting on how often people compound their sins by trying to hide them rather than confess them. “Playing hide and seek with God really doesn’t work,” he said, urging penitents to “seek the Lord while he may be found.”

There was no mention at the communal penance service, an annual Lenten observance, of the news roiling the diocese in recent weeks. But it was very much on worshippers’ minds.

The service came a day after the state announced charges against three…