Donald Edmond Pelotte

Donald E. Pelotte SSS (April 13, 1945 – January 7, 2010) was an American prelate of Abenaki descent in the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Gallup in New Mexico and Arizona from 1986 to 2008. Pelotte is commonly described as the first Native American to be appointed a Catholic bishop in the United States.

Biography

Early life Donald Pelotte was born on April 13, 1945, in Waterville, Maine, to Norris Albert Pelotte and Margaret Yvonne LaBrie Pelotte. His father was Abenaki, and his mother was of French-Canadian descent. Donald and his twin brother Dana were the youngest of five brothers.

Donald Pelotte studied at Eymard Seminary in Hyde Park, New York during his high school years. He did his college studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio and later completed doctoral studies at Fordham University in New York City. His doctoral dissertation was titled John Courtney Murray, Theologian in Conflict: Roman Catholicism and the American Experience. This was later published in book form by the Paulist Press.

Priesthood Pelotte was ordained a priest for the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament on September 2, 1972, by Bishop Edward Cornelius O’Leary. At age 33, he became the Provincial Superior of the Congregation. He was the youngest major superior of a religious community of men in the United States at the time.

Coadjutor Bishop and Bishop of Gallup On February 24, 1986, Pope John Paul II named Pelotte as coadjutor bishop of Gallup; he was consecrated at the Red Rock State Park Arena near Gallup on May 6, 1986 by Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez. In 1992, Pelotte walked out of the Tekawitha annual meeting. This was in response to a dissident group within the conference that accused the Catholic Church of ignoring Native American rituals.

On July 23, 2007, Pelotte suffered a traumatic brain injury at his Gallup home. According to chancery officials and a police report, Pelotte said that he fell down his stairs. He was hospitalized at John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, spending some time in the intensive care unit.

On January 3, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Thomas Olmsted, the bishop of Phoenix, as apostolic administrator sede plena of Gallup, and granted Pelotte a one-year leave of absence to continue his recovery. One year later, after seeing pictures of himself from the Emergency Department, Pelotte said he was no longer sure that his injuries were the result of a fall. This statement fueled speculation that his injuries came from being assaulted.

Retirement and legacy On April 30, 2008, Benedict XVI accepted Pelotte's resignation as bishop of Gallup.