Nov. 27, 2022

Bishop Paul Swain, the eighth leader of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, has died.

Swain, who died Nov. 26, was 79 and had been receiving hospice care after significant medical complications.

His death was announced by the Diocese of Madison in Wisconsin, where he was ordained, and shared today at Catholic Masses in Sioux Falls.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Swain as bishop of Sioux Falls in 2006. He resigned in late 2019 following his 75th birthday and was succeeded by Bishop Donald DeGrood.

Swain joined the Roman Catholic Church as an adult in 1983. He served in the Vietnam War as an intelligence officer, earning the Bronze Star, and practiced law in Wisconsin.

He was involved in the campaign and administration of Wisconsin’s Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus, who served from 1979 to 1983, working during those years as legal counsel and director of policy.

“It was near the end of his service to Gov. Dreyfus that the first thoughts of a vocation to the priesthood came to him,” according to his biography. “Since he wasn’t Catholic, this seemed unusual, but he took it as a prompting to take his faith more seriously. Private reading and studying and attendance at Mass led to more formal instruction and entrance into the Catholic faith in 1983. This proved not enough to dismiss the thought of priesthood.”

Swain began studying at Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, completed his Master of Divinity and was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Madison on May 27, 1988.

His time as bishop of Sioux Falls included the restoration of St. Joseph Cathedral, the opening of the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House to serve the homeless and multiple affordable housing developments.

He continued to live in Sioux Falls during retirement. Click here for information on arrangements.