Lewis and Clark, Teton, Flathead, Lincoln, Missoula, Sanders, Powell, Granite, Ravalli, Deer Lodge, Silver Bow, Jefferson, Broadwater, Gallatin, Madison, Lake, and Beaverhead counties plus parts of Meagher, Musselshell, and Toole counties in Montana
The Diocese of Helena covers 51,922 square miles, encompassing 21 counties and parts of two others. As of 2023, the diocese had 57 parishes and 38 missions divided into six deaneries: Bozeman, Butte, Conrad, Helena, Kalispell, and Missoula.[2]
The diocese in 2023 was served by 61 priests, 34 permanent deacons, seven religious brothers and four nuns.[2]
History
1800 to 1880
The earliest Catholic presence in western Montana was the arrival of Catholic Iroquois/Haudenosaunee fur traders who settled with the Flathead Nation around 1811. The Flathead sent emissaries to St. Louis, Missouri four times in the 1830s to petition the Diocese of St. Louis for their own missionaries.
Finally, in 1840, the diocese sent missionary Pierre-Jean de Smet to Montana. The next year, the priest returned to Montana to found St. Mary's Mission near present-day Missoula. In 1844, DeSmet worked to create St. Ignatius's Mission north of Missoula.[3][4]
In 1873, Catholic missionaries built the first Catholic chapel in Missoula, then constructed St. Francis Xavier Church there in 1881.[5] In Butte, the first Catholic church, St. Patrick's, also opened in 1881.[6]
1880 to 1900
Cathedral of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Helena's first cathedral (pre-1914)
In April 1883, Pope Leo XIII erected the Apostolic Vicariate of Montana, including what is present day Montana. He appointed Bishop Jean-Baptiste Brondel of the Diocese of Vancouver Island as the apostolic vicar.[7] One year later, the same pope created the Diocese of Helena to replace the vicariate, with Brondel as its first bishop.
During his tenure, Brondel traveled throughout the state, establishing several new parishes and building churches.[8] The first Catholic church in Bozeman was the Shèn White Chapel, constructed in 1886.[9]
He also significantly increased the number of priests; by 1903, the number of seminarians in Montana increased from one to thirteen.[8] Brondel took a particular interest in the evangelization of Native Americans, and the United States government often used his popularity among that community to further its aims.[10] In 1889, Montana achieved statehood. St. Matthew's Church, the first Catholic church in Kalispell, was dedicated in 1894.[11]
1900 to 1933
Bishop Carroll (1912)
After Brondel died in 1903, the next bishop of Helena was John Carroll of the Diocese of Dubuque.[12] That same year, the pope erected the Diocese of Great Falls to cover the eastern half of the state.[1] When Carroll became bishop, the diocese had 53 priests, 65 churches, and nine parochial schools to serve 50,000 Catholics.[13] In 1904, Carroll started the construction of the Cathedral of Saint Helena.[14]
Carroll was a vocal opponent of socialism, which he believed made "no allowance for the development of man's talents, intellectual gifts, his spirit of economy or his ability."[15] He also condemned alcohol as "the most prolific source of poverty and misery"[16] and successfully lobbied the Helena City Council to require bars to close by midnight.[17] Carroll died in Europe in 1925.
When Finnigan took office, the diocese had 104 priests, 101 churches, 24 parochial schools, and a Catholic population of 64,000.[19] The Blackfoot Confederacy adopted Finnigan into the tribe in Browning in 1928. The tribal leader, Mountain Chief, gave Finnigan the name "Na-toa-ye-owa-shin" ("Holy Word"). Finnigan raised money to upgrade their churches, schools and infrastructure.[20] The diocese also responded to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and a severe drought by increasing its care for the poor.[20] Finnigan worked hard to gain accreditation and long-term financial support for Mount St. Charles College. Finnigan died in 1932.
1933 to 1975
In 1933, Pope Pius XI appointed Ralph Hayes from the Diocese of Pittsburgh as the fourth bishop of Helena. After two years in Helena, Hayes was named rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome.[21] To replace Hayes, Pope Pius XI appointed Monsignor Joseph Gilmore of Helena. During his 26-year-long tenure, Gilmore presided over a period of great growth for the diocese. In addition to the material development, programs were developed to foster vocations, help resettle refugees from World War II, retrain unskilled workers, aid in adoptions, and promote the lay apostolate.[22]
After Gilmore died in 1969, Pope Paul VI named Raymond Hunthausen of Helena as the next bishop of the diocese.[23] Starting in 1976, Hunthausen worked with Call to Action, a progressive Catholic group. Hunthausen was named archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle in 1975.
The current bishop of Helena, since 2018, is Austin Vetter from the Diocese of Bismarck.[30] The diocese in 2022 sold the former Temple Emanu-El in Helena to the Montana Jewish Project.[31] It is the oldest synagogue in the state.[32][33]
Sexual abuse
In 1993, Bishop Curtiss apologized to the public for the handling of sexual abuse accusations against Wilson Smart. In 1989, a victim accused the priest of sexual abuse of children. After sending Smart to a rehabilitation center for alcohol abuse in the late 70s, Curtiss had reassigned him to a parish. According to Curtiss, he made this decision "without ever having examined his file and with no indication of any sexual problem." Smart admitted molesting more than 30 boys from 1957 to 1978. Curtiss discovered that the diocese knew in 1959 about Smart's attraction to boys and did nothing about it. The diocese settled with four of Smart's victims out of court, one for $1.7 million.[34]
Curtiss faced similar criticism in 2001 in regard to a priest accused of accessing child pornography. It was alleged that the bishop had failed to bring the case to the attention of the authorities, and had chosen to send the priest for counseling and to reassign him. That meant removing him from his high-school teaching position but reassigning him to a middle-school.[35]
Coat of arms
Coat of arms of Diocese of Helena
Escutcheon
Chevronny of eight argent and vert, over all a long cross enfiling in fess an open crown or
Symbolism
The green and silver chevrons represent the mountains of Montana, alongside the heraldic symbols of St. Helena.[36]
Arms was designed and adopted when the diocese was erected
Adopted
1884
Escutcheon
The diocesan arms consists of a field of alternating silver (white) and green chevrons. On this field are the conjoined cross and a crown.
Symbolism
The chevrons represent the mountain peaks in the diocese. The conjoined represent Helen, empress and mother of Constantine the Great, patroness of the diocese.
↑Egerton, Brooks; Dunklin, Reese (June 12, 2002). "Bishops' record in cases of accused priests". Dallas Morning News.
↑Heuser, Herman Joseph (1915). "Some Recent Episcopal Arms". The American Ecclesiastical Review. LIII (July). The Dolphin Press: 81. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
