A veteran of the U.S. Army, he served in Vietnam for 18 months and in Korea for 13 months before being honorably discharged in 1971.
Warfel was born in Elkhart, Indiana, and after leaving the army entered the seminary for the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend.
After receiving master’s degrees in divinity and theology, Warfel was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska, in 1980.
He was appointed the fourth bishop of Juneau, Alaska, at the end of 1996. From October 2001 to June 2002 he also served as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Fairbanks.
In November 2007, Pope Benedict XVI named Warfel to lead the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings. He was installed in January 2008.
The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings covers more than 93,000 square miles, the eastern two-thirds of Montana. It has 50 parishes and serves 31,813 Catholics. The total population of the diocese is 427,358.