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Bishop Pelotte’s resignation accepted nine months after injuries
By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON — The resignation of Bishop Donald E. Pelotte of Gallup, N.M., was accepted April 30 by Pope Benedict XVI, citing the canon law provision for ill health or other serious reason.
The resignation was announced in Washington by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Pelotte, 63, had been on a medical leave of absence since December, five months after he said he was injured in a fall at his home. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted was named apostolic administrator of the Gallup Diocese in January and will serve in that position until a permanent replacement is named by the Vatican.
Bishop Pelotte suffered head injuries and severe bruising to his shoulder, arms, legs, hands and knuckles at his home last July. Although initially the extent of his injuries led to speculation that he might have been assaulted, the bishop said he had fallen down the stairs and authorities did not pursue the matter further.
After receiving medical and therapeutic treatment at facilities in Arizona, Texas and Florida, he returned to his diocese Sept. 21. Friends and diocesan personnel said they hoped a return to familiar surroundings would help his recovery.
By December, however, in consultation with his doctors, Bishop Pelotte decided to focus solely on his recovery. The Vatican announced in January that he had been given a one-year medical leave of absence and that Bishop Olmsted would oversee the diocese.
Bishop Pelotte was the first U.S. bishop of Native American heritage. His father was a member of the Abenaki tribe of New England and southeastern Canada. Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, a member of the Potawatomi tribe, is the only other U.S. bishop who belongs to a Native American tribe.
Bishop Pelotte was named coadjutor of the Gallup Diocese in 1986 and became the third bishop of Gallup in 1990 upon the retirement of Bishop Jerome J. Hastrich.
A native of Waterville, Maine, Bishop Pelotte celebrated his 63rd birthday April 13. His twin brother, Dana, is also a priest, and was ordained by his brother. Both men are members of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Father Pelotte is the pastor of a parish in Houston.
After attending public schools in Maine, Donald Pelotte studied at Eymard Seminary in Hyde Park, N.Y., and attended college at John Carroll University in Cleveland. He did his seminary studies at Blessed Sacrament Seminary in Cleveland and received a doctorate in theology from Fordham University in New York in 1975.
Bishop Pelotte’s doctoral thesis, “John Courtney Murray, Theologian in Conflict: Roman Catholicism and the American Experience,” a historical and theological analysis of the relationship of the church and state and the American experience of religious freedom, was chosen as book of the month by the Catholic Book Club in October 1976.
He was ordained a priest Sept. 2, 1972, and at age 33, in 1978, then-Father Pelotte became the youngest major superior of a men’s religious community in the United States. He was still serving as his community’s provincial when he was named coadjutor bishop of Gallup.
In a letter to the people of his diocese posted on the diocesan Web site in October, Bishop Pelotte reflected on his health problems.
“So much of what happens in our lives is out of our control: wars, illness, unemployment, family divisions, accidents and injuries,” he wrote. “However, we do have the promise of a loving God to sustain us through the difficult times in our lives.”
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