on november 19, 1996, warfel was appointed the fourth bishop of juneau by pope john paul ii. he received his episcopal consecration on the following december 17 from archbishop francis hurley, with bishops michael kaniecki, sj, and william skylstad serving as co-consecrators. warfel was chairman of the committee on evangelization within the united states conference of catholic bishops from 1999 to 2002. he was later named apostolic administrator of fairbanks on october 23, 2001, resigning upon the appointment of donald joseph kettler on june 7, 2002.