On April 4, 2023, Pope Francis appointed Pates as administrator of the Archdiocese of Dubuque due to the abrupt retirement of Archbishop Michael Jackels.

[2] On December 20, 1968, Pates was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis by Bishop Francis Reh at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

[5] In 1975, Pates was appointed as secretary of the apostolic delegation to the United States in Washington, D.C.. During this time, he assisted at Blessed Sacrament Parish[6] in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and was raised by the Vatican to the rank of chaplain to his holiness in 1979.

[5] Pates served as moderator for the archdiocese deaneries, the Council of Catholic Women (1990–1998) and was the founding pastor of Saint Ambrose of Woodbury Parish in St. Paul (1998–2001).

[1] On November 14, 2011, Pates was elected chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace at the 2011 meeting.

[9] On February 16, 2018, Pates submitted his letter of resignation as bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines to Pope Francis having reached the canonical retirement age of 75.

On December 27, 2019, Francis named Pates as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Joliet after Bishop R. Daniel Conlon took medical leave.

[14] The pope had asked Bishop Michael Hoeppner to resign due to his mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against priests.