What’s News

Nation’s first Native American bishop

 Gallup, New Mexico – Bishop Donald E. Pelotte, SSS, the first Native American bishop in the United States, peacefully passed away Jan. 7, after a short illness.

Bishop Pelotte, 64, was bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Gallup.

On February 24, 1986, Bishop Pelotte – at the age of 40 – was appointed by Pope John Paul II as coadjutor bishop of Gallup and was ordained at Red Rock State Park on May 6, 1986. On April 30, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI accepted Bishop Pelotte’s resignation from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Gallup.

Since 1981, Bishop Pelotte had been a national board member of the Tekakwitha Conference – an organization for Native American Catholics – and was a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Catholic Historical Society.

Throughout Bishop Pelotte’s 22 years of ministry in the Diocese of Gallup, his efforts concentrated on building the Church among Native American peoples around the country. He developed training programs for Native American deacons and lay ministers.

During his tenure as bishop, he was awarded two honorary doctorates and numerous other honors.

He was born on April 13, 1945, in Waterville, Maine, and professed religious vows in the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament on August 22, 1967. He was ordained a priest on September 2, 1972, by Bishop Edward O’Leary of the Diocese of Portland, Maine.

After receiving his high school education at Eymard Seminary in Hyde Park, New York, Bishop Pelotte attended Cleveland’s John Carroll University, receiving a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy in 1969. He received a doctorate in theology from Fordham University in 1975.

While he was provincial of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, Bishop Pelotte was – at 33 years of age – the youngest major superior of a men’s religious community in the United States.

The funeral Mass took place on January 14.

Father Paysse and the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions expresses sympathy to Bishop Pelotte’s family and the Diocese of Gallup.