On May 30, 2023, Pope Francis elevated the Diocese of Las Vegas to an archdiocese and named Las Vegas’ Bishop, the Most Reverend George Leo Thomas, a former bishop of the Diocese of Helena, Archbishop of Las Vegas. The new archdiocese includes the Diocese of Reno and Salt Lake City in its ecclesial jurisdiction. This is a noteworthy moment in the life of the Church in America, as only two of the 34 archdioceses in the United States have been established within the last four decades. The formation of the new Archdiocese is in response to the rapid growth in registered Catholics over the last 20 years. According to catholichierarchy.org, the number of Catholics in the diocese in 1999 was around 390,000. The Archdiocese of Las Vegas lists their most recent count at 620,000, though they estimate that number is closer to 800,000, which would amount to approximately a third of the total population of the area.
The formation of the archdiocese came with the naming of Bishop George Leo Thomas (Las Vegas’ bishop since 2018) as the first Archbishop of Las Vegas. In a press release regarding the newly elevated archdiocese, Bishop Gregory W. Gordon, Auxiliary Bishop of Las Vegas, made a statement regarding the growth of the diocese in relation to their new archbishop saying, “Being created an Archdiocese by Pope Francis at this moment in Las Vegas history certainly reflects the Holy Father’s confidence in the spiritual leadership of this Church under Archbishop Thomas these past five years.”
Archbishop Thomas has not always hailed from Las Vegas, in fact his native land is under the big sky of Montana. He was born in Anaconda in 1950 and was raised in Butte. Thomas continued his time in Montana at Carroll College where he would eventually graduate in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature. He then enrolled at St. Thomas Seminary in Bothell, Washington under the Archdiocese of Seattle. In 1976 he was ordained to the priesthood and began to serve as associate pastor at Holy Family Parish in Kirkland, Wash. and St. James Cathedral in Seattle.
After completing a master’s and PHD program at the University of Washington, and serving for over a decade at various parishes, missions, prisons, and jails, he got his first taste of episcopal life when he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington in 1999. His time in this role was relatively short; in 2004 he returned home, as he was named the 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Helena. Archbishop Thomas served as Bishop of Helena for 14 years and is fondly remembered for his gracious pastoral style as well as decisive leadership in moments of crisis marked by characteristic grace and humility. All of this is to say he was well prepared for his eventual elevation to archbishop.
Archbishop Thomas is not the only archbishop to hail from the Helena Diocese. Former Archbishop of Seattle, Raymond G. Hunthausen was also a Montana native and former Bishop of Helena. Like Thomas, Hunthausen was born in Anaconda, in 1921.
He went to seminary in Washington and was ordained in 1946. Most of his priesthood was spent as a professor and president at Carroll College, until he was named Bishop of Helena in 1962. Hunthausen was the youngest and newest American bishop to attend the Second Vatican council (1962-1965). His attendance at all four sessions of the council greatly shaped his episcopacy going forward. In 1975 he was named Archbishop of Seattle, and he even ordained Archbishop Thomas to the priesthood in the following year. In a letter from the Vatican to Hunthausen regarding an investigation of Hunthausen’s episcopacy, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joeseph Ratzinger said that Hunthausen was, “a man of Gospel values, sensitive to the needs of the suffering and the aggrieved.”
The Diocese of Helena is graced to have a legacy of bishops who have been faithful stewards of the Church in Western Montana. As Archbishop Thomas’ episcopacy continues, we offer our prayers for both him and his new flock, the Archdiocese of Las Vegas.
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