Father Austin Vetter appointed Bishop of Diocese of Helena

BISMARCK, N.D. — Father Austin A. Vetter has been appointed by Pope Francis as the Bishop of the Diocese of Helena, the Catholic diocese for western Montana.
 
The appointment was announced earlier today in Rome and at a news conference in Bismarck this morning. Father Vetter is only the second Diocese of Bismarck priest to be named bishop — the first native of North Dakota. The other was Sylvester Treinen, originally from Minnesota, who was ordained a priest of the Bismarck Diocese in 1946 and served here until being named Bishop of Boise, Idaho in 1962.
 
Bishop David D. Kagan, Diocese of Bismarck, said of Fr. Vetter, “Thank God that he has the courageous faith to say ‘yes’ and be a shepherd of God’s people. He will do very well and he will always be a credit to Christ and our Church and to his home diocese.”
 
Bishop-elect Vetter will be ordained and installed as the Bishop of Helena on Nov. 20, 2019 at the Cathedral of St. Helena. He takes over for Bishop George Thomas, who was appointed as the bishop of the Diocese of Las Vegas in February 2018.
 
Bishop-elect Vetter is the 11th bishop of the Helena Diocese established in 1884. According to the Diocese of Helena website, the diocese covers 51,922 square miles of western and north central Montana, encompassing 21 counties and parts of two others. The diocese has 57 parishes and 38 missions.
 
Father Austin Vetter was born in Linton, N.D. on Sept. 13, 1967, the youngest of 12 children of August and Loretta Vetter. After graduation from Linton Public School, he attended North Dakota State University and Cardinal Muench Seminary in Fargo. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, he studied at the Pontifical North American College and the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bismarck by Bishop John F. Kinney at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck on June 29, 1993.
 
Following ordination, Father Vetter served as parochial vicar at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. He was a religion instructor at St. Mary’s Central High School in Bismarck from 1994-99. He then served as pastor of St. Martin’s in Center, St. Patrick’s in Dickinson and St. Leo the Great in Minot. From 2004-07, Father Vetter was an adjunct faculty member for the Institute of Priestly Formation at Creighton University in Omaha where he taught The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest.
 
Father Vetter has held various roles in the Diocese of Bismarck including serving on the presbyteral council, priests’ personnel board, vicar for the permanent diaconate, master of ceremonies to the bishop and director of continuing education for clergy.
 
Father Vetter served as Director of Spiritual Formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome from July 2012 through June 2018. Prior to being named Bishop of the Diocese of Helena, he served as rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Light of Christ Catholic Schools in Bismarck.
 
Bishop Kagan will appoint the new rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Fr. Vetter’s replacement, later.
 
 
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MEDIA: Please contact Sonia Mullally, director of communications for the Diocese of Bismarck, at 701-204-7190 or  [email protected].
 
Photo of Bishop-elect Vetter attached.
 
Pronunciation: Treinen (TrI-nen)