The Erie Roman Catholic Diocese issued the following obituary of its Bishop Emeritus Donald Trautman, who died on Saturday at the age of 85.
The Most Reverend Donald W. Trautman, Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Erie
Bishop Donald W. Trautman, STD, SSL, retired bishop of the Diocese of Erie, died Saturday, February 26, 2022, at St. Mary Home Asbury Ridge, Erie.
He was born June 24, 1936, in Buffalo, N.Y., the youngest of three children of the late Edward J. and Martha (Smith) Trautman. He was installed as the ninth bishop of Erie on July 16, 1990, and served until July 31, 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI accepted the required letter of resignation he had submit-ted at the age of 75.
Bishop Trautman attended St. Mark School in Buffalo, and studied for the priesthood at the diocesan preparatory seminary and at Our Lady of the Angels Seminary at Niagara University, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
He competed his theological studies with the Jesuits at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, studying under noted theologian Karl Rahner and renowned liturgist Josef Jungmann. In 1962, he received his licentiate in sacred theology.
Bishop Trautman was ordained a priest in Innsbruck on April 7, 1962, by Bishop Paul Rusch. His first assignment was administrator of St. Francis Cabrini Parish in Collins Center, N.Y. ,
Later, he pursued advanced studies at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Before returning to Europe, he was an associate pastor of Holy Family Parish in Buffalo. Bishop Trautman continued his post-graduate studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he received his licentiate degree in Scrip-ture in 1965. A year later, he was awarded his doctorate in sacred theology, with honors, from St. Thomas Aquinas University, Rome. His doctoral thesis was on the biblical understanding of celibacy.
The Second Vatican Council was underway while he was a student in Rome. As Bishop Trautman completed his doctoral work, he was asked to serve as a secretary to the historic gatherings at St. Peter’s Ba-silica, and counted it among the highlights of his life.
From 1966-73, Bishop Trautman served as professor of Scripture and theology at St. John Vianney Seminary, now known as Christ the King Seminary, East Aurora, N.Y. He also served as dean of students and retreat master for religious communities. During that time, he was elected to the priests’ senate and served as vice president and president of the Diocesan Pastoral Council in Buffalo.
In Buffalo, he served as secretary for Bishop Edward Head. In 1973, he was appointed diocesan chan-cellor, and a year later, was named vicar general of the Diocese of Buffalo.
Pope Paul VI named him prelate of honor, with the title of Reverend Monsignor, in 1975.
On Feb. 27, 1985, Pope John Paul II named him auxiliary bishop of Buffalo and titular bishop of Sassura. Bishop Head consecrated him as auxiliary bishop on April 16, 1985, at St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo.
While continuing as vicar general and auxiliary bishop in Buffalo, Bishop Trautman took on the pas-torate of Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in nearby Williamsville, N.Y., on May 15, 1985.
Five years later, in June 1990, he became rector of Christ the King Seminary. That position was short-lived: On June 12, 1990, Pope John Paul II named him the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Erie.
Bishop Trautman took canonical possession of the Diocese of Erie on July 15, 1990, at an evening service at St. Peter Cathedral in downtown Erie. The next day, he was formally installed as bishop at a Mass at St. Peter Cathedral.
During his 22 years as bishop of the Diocese of Erie, Bishop Trautman distinguished himself as a man of letters, of mercy and gifted homiletics.
Not long after moving into the bishop’s residence in downtown Erie, he recognized the needs of the homeless community. He inaugurated the successful Bishop’s Breakfast Program in 2007, which provided breakfast weekday mornings at the nearby St. Paul United Church of Christ, made possible by volunteers from neighboring parishes and staff of the St. Martin Center, an agency of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Erie. Plans have long been in the works to transition the program to be housed at Erie City Mission begin-ning March 1.
Nationally, Bishop Trautman had a significant impact in both liturgy and church finances.
He has been a vocal proponent of inclusive language in the liturgy, and twice served as chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, working closely on revisions to the Roman Missal and the revised translation of the Lectionary.
For two decades, Bishop Trautman was involved in the leadership of the Diocesan Fiscal Manage-ment Conference. He helped modernize accounting practices, set standards and establish professional guide-lines for the way finances are handled in dioceses across the United States.
In the Diocese of Erie, Bishop Trautman led the 13 counties of northwest Pennsylvania under his cho-sen episcopal motto, “Feed My Sheep.” He oversaw the mergers and closings of several parishes and schools during that time, as well as the 2001-2003 diocesan capital campaign, “Celebrating Yesterday, Creating To-morrow. In particular, he was a leader in the much-needed renovation of St. Peter Cathedral, the mother church of the diocese. He also oversaw the diocesan transition from the publication of a bi-weekly newspa-per, the Lake Shore Visitor to the bi-monthly Faith magazine.
Bishop Trautman was awarded with several honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities during his life. Notre Dame University’s Center of Pastoral Liturgy honored him with the Michael Mathis Award, its highest honor bestowed for outstanding contributions to liturgy. St. John’s University in New York also honored Bishop Trautman with its Gold Medal. The Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commission’s annual Msgr. Frederick R. McManus Award was presented to Bishop Trautman in 2003. He wrote and spoke extensively on liturgy and Scripture.
His tenure as bishop officially ended when Bishop Lawrence Persico took canonical possession of the Diocese of Erie on September 30, 2012. Upon Bishop Trautman’s retirement, he resided at St. Mary’s of As-bury Ridge, Erie, and remained active as a writer, lecturer and retreat master until the final year of his life.
Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Eugene Trautman, and his sister, Carol Trautman. Survivors include a niece, Catherine Trautman and a nephew, Mark Trautman.
A Memorial Mass, open to the public, will be held at Our Lady of Peace Church in Erie the night before the Mass of Christian at St. Peter Cathedral, Erie. Due to restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ongoing renovations at the cathedral, guests at the funeral Mass will be by invitation only. Livestreams of both Masses will be made available. As arrangements are finalized, information will be availa-ble at www.eriercd.org/bishoptrautman.html.
Bishop Trautman will be interred in the crypt of St. Peter Cathedral, Erie.
The Brugger Funeral Home, Erie, is handling funeral arrangements. Memorials may be made to the Bishop Donald W. Trautman Feed My Sheep Endowment, supporting youth and persons suffering from spir-itual and material poverty, via the Catholic Foundation of Northwest Pennsylvania, or to the Bishop’s Break-fast Program via Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Erie.
Statement from the Most Rev. Lawrence T. Persico, bishop of Erie, upon the death of Bishop Emeritus Donald W. Trautman
I first got to know Bishop Trautman during my time serving as a priest representative on the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. He was always a very gracious person who always had a sincere interest in the people he met.
I knew of the hard work he had done on the Bishop’s Liturgy Committee. That work meant a great deal to him. He had a wonderful background in Scripture, a subject he taught at the seminary in Buffalo. Many of his students still remember him from those days. He was a great teacher.
Anyone who knew him knows the priesthood was very important to him.
When I first visited the diocese as the bishop-elect, I could see he was very proud of the clergy, religious and laity of the Diocese of Erie. This had been his life. He gave himself totally to his role as bishop.
He wore many hats: pastor, administrator, professor, rector, auxiliary bishop and finally, bishop. He had a full life of service to the church. He was deeply committed to the pastoral care of the priests of his diocese as well as the people. I’m sure it was difficult when he had to let go of those responsibilities.
His final years brought many trials. There will be those who say he should have done more when it came to clergy sexual abuse. At the same time, there will be those who say he received too much blame.
As Pope Francis likes to say, we are all sinners. Certainly at this time, we can look at flaws and failures on anyone’s part. It’s easy to look at a life from today’s perspective rather than in its historical context. All of us could have done better, myself included. Knowing Bishop Trautman, he did what he thought was the best he could do for the good of the people and the church.
As I visited Bishop Trautman these last few years, I could see how he gradually began to mellow. Early on, he was always interested in what was happening in the diocese and wanted to talk about business. But as time went on, his interests became more personal. He wanted to talk about the people we knew and about the challenges he was facing as his health declined.
He maintained his interest in the lives of those who came to see him. He was very pastoral, even when he had become the patient. In his Christmas card this year, he made reference to his room as a cell. I thought about that as the cell of a monk. I could see that he took advantage of these last months and weeks to reflect and to prepare himself more fully for eternal life.
May perpetual light shine upon him.
