Daniel Lytle Dolan was born in 1951 in Detroit Michigan. He began his preparation for the priesthood in 1965 at the archdiocesan minor seminary in Detroit. He continued his studies in the Cistercian Order and at the seminary of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in Écône, Switzerland, where was ordained a priest by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre on June 29, 1976.

As a seminarian at Écône in autumn 1973, he had already come to the conclusion that the only logical explanation for the evil of the New Mass and the errors of Vatican II was that Paul VI, due to personal heresy, had lost the pontificate. Since then, he steadfastly held that position regarding Paul VI and his successors, and never once acknowledged them as popes in the Canon of his Mass.

This explanation for the situation after Vatican II later came to be known popularly as “sedevacantism” (from the Latin term for the interregnum between popes).

In early 1977 Fr. Dolan returned to the U.S., where he acquired a reputation as an eloquent preacher, and where in a few years, he had founded over 35 traditionalist Mass centers from East coast to West.

In early 1983, as part of a plan to compromise with the modernist Vatican, Archbishop Lefebvre attempted to impose a “liturgical reform” – the 1962 Missal of John XXIII – on SSPX’s American priests. At the same time, the Archbishop insisted that the Americans accept the scandalous marriage annulments granted by modernist tribunals, and work with priests ordained according to the protestantized ordination rite promulgated by Paul VI in 1968.

Nine American priests, including Fr. Dolan, refused, and were promptly expelled from SSPX. (Four more would later join them.)

Fr. Dolan continued his missionary apostolate unchanged and increased the number of activities at his principal church, St. Gertrude the Great in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The parish, which he founded himself in 1978, is one of the largest (400 members) and best-organized in the U.S.

In 1989 Fr. Dolan initiated contacts with the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI). Subsequent discussions revealed agreement on major theological issues (the pope, the new sacraments).

In 1991, Bishop Moises Carmona, head of the Mexican traditionalist organization Trento, asked the 12 CMRI priests to elect one of the number to receive episcopal consecration. Bishop Carmona, a respected pastor and former seminary professor in Acapulco, had himself been consecrated a bishop in 1981 by Archbishop P.M. Ngô Đình Thục, former Archbishop of Huế, Vietnam.

The CMRI fathers selected Fr. Mark A. Pivarunas, whom Bishop Carmona then duly consecrated.

In 1992 Bishop Pivarunas, with a view towards assisting clergy formerly belonging to SSPX, asked Fr. Dolan to receive episcopal consecration. After considerable hesitation, Fr. Dolan agreed in mid-1993.

Bishop Dolan was consecrated a bishop at St. Gertrude the Great Church in Cincinnati on 30 November 1993, the Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle, during the course of Solemn Pontifical Mass. The rite took three hours, and all the solemnities of the Pontificale Romanum were observed.

Seventeen traditional Catholic priests from the U.S., Mexico and Canada participated in the ceremony, along with several hundred Catholics from various parts of the country.

A professionally-produced DVD of the consecration is available.

Bishop Dolan served as pastor of St. Gertrude the Great Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In addition Bishop Dolan conducted a modest national and international apostolate. He confirmed in churches in the U.S. operated by former members of SSPX, and also traveled extensively to conduct episcopal functions for traditionalist churches and organizations in Mexico, France, Belgium, Poland and Italy. He ordained seminarians and priests for Trento, the Institute Mater Boni Consilii of Verrua Savoia, Italy, and other organizations, including Most Holy Trinity Seminary, the foundation of which he encouraged in 1995.

Bishop Dolan died suddenly on April 26, 2022 on the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, in West Chester, Ohio.