Office of Bishop – Diocese of Rapid City

Bishop Scott Bullock

Bishop Scott Bullock was born in Royal Oak, MI, and was the youngest of three children.

In the summer before the 5^th grade, his family moved to Elkton, MD, where he graduated from high school and began college the next year at the University of Delaware. Ultimately, he graduated with a BS in Industrial Engineering in 1985 from General Motors Institute in Flint, MI and was then employed as an engineer in the automotive industry. Around this time, an active consideration of the vocation to the priesthood arose in his heart and soul, prompted by the sincere invitation of some men and women in a Bible study group. Rather than responding to the call at that time, he instead moved to Iowa to attend Iowa State University in the graduate program in Statistics. It was there, within the first semester of graduate studies, that he felt an intensification of an inner calling to consider priesthood and, with peace and joy, he left his previous studies behind and entered seminary as a candidate for the Archdiocese of Dubuque (Iowa).

After four years of study at the North American College in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Daniel Kucera in 1991. He studied Canon Law at the Catholic University of America and was awarded a License in Canon Law Degree in 1997.

In his leisure time, he completed a Master’s Degree in English (Literature) in 2015 and then taught Literature and English composition classes at the college level for Catholic high school students through a local community college.

Explanation of the Coat of Arms of Bishop Scott Bullock

coat of arms bishop full achievement color[37]

In designing the shield, a bishop has an opportunity to depict various aspects of his own life and heritage and to highlight particular aspects of Catholic faith and devotion that are important to him. A diocesan bishop shows his commitment to the flock he shepherds by “impaling” his personal coat of arms with that of the diocese.

The coat of arms of the Diocese of Rapid City is represented on the left side of the shield. Three black triangular peaks, called piles, represent the Black Hills of South Dakota. They are peaked with shamrocks, a reference to Saint Patrick, the patron of the church in Lead, which served as the first cathedral of the diocese from 1902-1930. The gold background symbolizes the gold mined in the Black Hills and the wavy white line represents the Missouri River, which forms the eastern border of the diocese. The green region at the base of the shield represents the rich ranch land on which many South Dakotans rely for their livelihood. It is charged with a golden circle reminiscent of the Lakota people and their belief in the interconnectedness of all created things.

The personal coat of arms of the bishop is represented on the right half of the shield. Bishop Bullock has chosen three symbols that represent the Holy Spirit, the Holy Scriptures/the Word, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Behind the symbols, the shield is blue, symbolic of Our Lady. At the top of these three symbols is a white dove, surmounting a halo of golden rays, a representation of the Holy Spirit, “the Lord and giver of life,” who is the power of God by which the “Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14). Across the middle of the shield is a horizontal gold bar, called a “fess.” On the fess is an open book with parchment-colored pages, bound in a mulberry cover. The book represents the inspired Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, the very center of a bishop’s teaching ministry. At the same time, the book also suggests the written word in a more general sense, alluding to bishop’s love of literature, which he taught at the college level. Below the fess is a letter “M” in gold, symbolic of Mary upon whom the Holy Spirit descended and by whom, by Mary’s consent, the “Word became flesh.” This Marian symbol was borrowed from the shield of Saint John Paul II, a lifetime hero of the bishop and who was the reigning pope when bishop was ordained a deacon and a priest. Altogether, the three symbols speak of God’s life and salvation, bestowed by the descent of the Holy Spirit, coming in the Word and through the humanity given by the Mother of God, in Jesus Christ. That saving humanity is offered each time we gather at the source and summit of the Christian life, the Eucharist, where the Word becomes flesh for our salvation.