Fr. Cataldo's appointment as Superior of the Jesuit Rocky Mountain Mission came in 1877, while concluding his efforts to mediate hostilities in the Nez Perce uprising of that same year. The organization he now led had been engaged in missionary activity in the Pacific Northwest for 36 years, and consisted of 38 men, of whom 20 were ordained priests and the remaining 18 were non-ordained assistants, or "coadjutor brothers." Chronically underfunded and understaffed, the Mission faced a bleak future, with many hardship-worn, aging members and no potential new recruits. By 1893, sixteen years later, his replacement inherited an organization totalling 136 men, of whom 54 were priests, 36 were brothers and no less than 46 young Jesuit aspirants in training. This remarkable growth reflects both Cataldo's forceful leadership and the fact that his tenure paralled a transformative phase of settlement in the American West.

This settlement phase brought both the reservation system for Northwest Tribes and a new, growing population needing pastoral attention. Consequently, the Rocky Mountain Mission's focus on Native Americans gradually became a lower priority. Cataldo, a missionary first and to the last, resisted the trend as best he could. Existing Indian missions were expanded into major boarding school operations, several new missions in Wyoming, Montana, Oregon and Washington State were added, and an entirely new field of endeavor was opened in distant Alaska Territory. The demographic shift was undeniable, however, and Cataldo engaged in this new direction with characteristic vigor and pragmatism. Combined college/preparatory schools were opened in both Spokane and Seattle, with a third in Helena contemplated but rejected. And by 1893, Mission Jesuits now provided staffing for about 10 parishes in the Pacific Northwest.