On the way

By Bishop Jeff Fleming

This is my first article as your Ordinary, the Bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings. On August 22, 2023, Pope Francis accepted Bishop Warfel’s resignation. All Bishops are required to submit their resignation when they reach the age of 75. With the Pope’s acceptance of his resignation, I automatically became your bishop.

It has been such a blessing to begin to get to know you and this diocese over this past year. I thank Bishop Warfel for his pastoral leadership not only in this diocese but in the larger church. He is a man of holiness and has the heart of Christ. He is a true shepherd.
This has been a busy summer and fall. As I reflect upon these past months, the word pilgrimage comes to mind. A pilgrimage is not a trip, it is not a visit. A pilgrimage means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God. A pilgrimage is usually done with others.

These last 15 months have been just that, a pilgrimage, stepping out to encounter God. My journeys to the parishes, to you, have been encounters with God. At the end of July into August, I journeyed with 22 people from Montana for World Youth Day. In mid-August, I journeyed with 33 people on pilgrimage to the Our Lady of Champion, Wisconsin: again, an encounter with God.

As I write these words, I am sitting looking at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, having just completed a Bishops’ formation course affectionately called “Baby Bishops’ School.” I was with 113 Bishops from around the world. Presentations were simultaneously translated into 5 different languages. This course introduced us to the functions of the various Dicasteries (offices) of the Vatican, roughly like the offices in the Chancery. But more importantly, it was an opportunity to encounter other bishops from around the world. We concluded with Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. After Mass, we processed to the tomb of St. Peter. Bishops’ school ended with a two-hour meeting with Pope Francis, the highlight of my trip.

As I reflect on my time in Rome, I keep thinking of something that Thomas Johnson, one of our seminarians who is studying in Rome said about the letters beneath the dome of St. Peter’s. The letters are 7 feet tall, but from the ground they don’t look that big.

It is all about perspective. My time in Rome changed my perspective. My eyes were opened to how much larger the world is than I had perceived and how much larger the Church is. Our world is vast, our church is vast. God is even so much more. It is easy and maybe comfortable to think of our church as only our local community, our local parish… or maybe we allow ourselves to think a bit larger to our Diocese or even the State of Montana. But with God, there is always more.

A change of perspective may make us feel a bit small. But God reminds us that we are not small, we are not insignificant. We are loved. We are treasured. We are valued and we are a part of something so much more. We are part of God’s family.

On September 12, I went back to St. Peter’s to make a mini pilgrimage, to encounter God. I prayed at the tomb of St. Peter, St. Pius X, a Patron Saint of the Diocese, St. John XXIII, who convoked the Second Vatican Council, and St. John Paul II, who visited our Diocese when he was a Cardinal and who then served as Pope a good part of my life. On this mini pilgrimage, I prayed for our Diocese, I prayed for our priests and deacons, I prayed for the religious who serve and have served in our diocese, I prayed for our seminarians and those discerning their vocation, and I prayed for you.

As I begin as your Bishop, we are journeying together. We are on pilgrimage. We seek to encounter the God who loves us and wants to know us. This fall, I will be visiting each of the parishes and missions of the vicariates of the Diocese. I look forward to seeing you and hearing your story. Please know of my prayers for you and please pray for me.

Tomb of Saint Pope John XXIII at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome

Entrance to Crypt at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome

Inside the Dome at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome