I thought I was the least prepared man to become bishop ever. But then I decided afterward I wasn't". In 1958 he led a pilgrimage of Spokane Catholics to the shrines of Europe, including the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France on the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes. He began a mission program in Guatemala with the Maryknoll Fathers in 1960. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965. During his 22-year-long tenure, he established several parishes and schools, Mater Cleri Seminary, Bishop White Seminary on the Gonzaga University campus, Immaculate Heart Retreat House, homes for unwed mothers, and housing for the elderly. Topel was nationally known for his austere way of life and devotion to the poor. He maintained a modest residence with neither heating nor a telephone. He received most of his food from his vegetable garden. He donated the profits from the sale of his crosier and pectoral cross to charity, and admitted that wearing an episcopal ring made him feel "a bit out of kilter." He once declared, "I have come to the realization that the most important thing I can do in the church, and that applies to Christians in general, is to live simply in order to give money to the poor." Patrick G. O'Donnell was a priest who, by his own admission, abused at least 30 boys in the Spokane diocese. Even before his ordination, concerns had been voiced about O'Donnell's sexual attraction to boys. In 1974, Walter Abel was O'Donnel's supervising priest over Patrick G. O'Donnell. Abel believed that O'Donnell was a pedophile and told the Diocesan Personnel Board it was essential that O'Donnell be moved quickly. In that era, pedophilia was seen as a psychological condition amenable to treatment, somewhat similar to alcoholism, and O'Donnell was sent away for therapy. Upon O'Donnel's return, Bishop Topel reassigned him to a new parish where he abused more boys. Topel retired in 1978, and O'Donnell would not be exposed and suspended from the priesthood until 1986, by which time he had been assigned to several parishes and (by his own admission) abused at least 30 boys. Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, Topel retired as Bishop of Spokane on April 11, 1978. He served as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese until the appointment of his successor, Lawrence Harold Welsh.