He completed his undergraduate education at Saint Patrick's Seminary[4] in Menlo Park, California, and his graduate studies at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.[1] While at the seminary in 1927, Bell was one of three pastoral interns who were assigned to St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Altadena, California.

He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 4 in St. Vibiana's Cathedral from Cardinal James Francis McIntyre,[6] with Bishops Joseph Thomas McGucken and Timothy Manning serving as co-consecrators.

[8] On October 26, 1957, Bell presided over the gymnasium dedication at Junípero Serra High School in Gardena, California.

[12] On June 7, 1965, Bell dedicated Holy Family Parish's new church, which replaced the Camp Kohler chapel that had been purchased from the Army.

[17] In 1977, Bell supervised the purchase and installation of a Schlicker organ from Buffalo, New York, for the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

[18] In May 1977, Bell gave $20,000, which had been a World War II relief fund for Slovaks, to the Byzantine Eparch of Parma, Emil Mihalik.

Issues from outside the diocese also affected day-to-day life: the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and legislative matters on abortion.

Within the diocese, his positive actions to aid Catholic education, improve interaction with the Latino community, and renovate the interior of the cathedral were undermined by divisions, school closures, and world tensions.

In October 1979, a knife-wielding assailant, William Luthin, attacked and cut Bell several times while he was off-duty in the cathedral's chancery.

[1][2][3][21] He was stabbed twice before his secretary, Jean Tamaki,[2] was able to pull Luthin away by his shirt, Bell had been in his office preparing for a trip to see Pope John Paul II in Chicago, Illinois.

[2] Then Governor Ronald Reagan's 1970 letter to Bell answering his request on "the tragic situation of Catholic school finances in California.

I feel it absolutely essential that we start placing the resources of the state behind the student, not the educational establishment.From a May 1976 letter written by Bell that was read at all diocesan Masses concerning the deaths of 27 high school choir members and their chaperone.

Our faith gives us a bridge to lead us safely through grief to a better understanding of God's way for us.Bishop Francis Quinn on the subject of Bell's 1982 death.