St. Bonaventure: Gallup Diocese Bankruptcy Threatens Mission, School

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Gallup Independent
June 1, 2015

http://gallupindependent.com/

THOREAU — When the Diocese of Gallup filed for bankruptcy in November 2013, Chris Halter, the executive director of St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School, was jolted by the contents of one of the diocese’s court documents.

More specifically, from Halter’s perspective, the document featured an oversight — a “big oversight” — that threatened troubles ahead for St. Bonaventure.

It was a 120-page document signed by Gallup Bishop James S. Wall that included a number of U.S. Bankruptcy Court “schedules” that provided details about the Diocese of Gallup’s assets, debts and creditors. When Wall signed the document on Nov. 26, 2013, he declared the information was true and correct.

But for Halter and other St. Bonaventure officials, Schedule A, the schedule that listed real property owned by the diocese, featured a glaring and alarming omission.

St Bonaventure omission

Wall and his bankruptcy attorneys had listed more than a dozen properties in Thoreau as being real property owned by the Gallup Diocese. However, they neglected to note in the court document that most of the Thoreau property had been used by St. Bonaventure for decades.

“I have zero idea,” Halter said of the possible reason behind that omission. “There was no mention of St. Bonaventure.”

According to Halter, “99 percent” of the Thoreau property listed in Schedule A is being used by the nonprofit mission for its charitable work. Some of the property, he said, is being used for the mission’s tuition-free, private Catholic school that annually educates about 200 students, mostly Navajo children from low income families. Other property is used by the mission’s administrative offices, thrift store, two low income mobile home parks and a community playground. A well on the property supplies safe drinking water for the mission’s 4,000 gallon water truck to deliver to Navajo homes without running water.

In contrast, diocesan attorneys included information on Schedule A that noted other properties were being used by the Vincent de Paul Society’s Food Bank in Arizona, Gallup Catholic School in Gallup, Catholic Charities in Farmington, the San Juan Catholic Center Mission in Kirtland, and various churches and missions in New Mexico.

“It was laid out pretty clear what those properties were used for, but St. Bonaventure’s was not,” Halter said.

Legal complaint

According to Halter, St. Bonaventure’s officials wrote the diocese a letter asking diocesan attorneys to modify Schedule A to indicate the mission’s use of the property, but to his knowledge that has never happened.

“I’ve requested on numerous occasions to speak to Bishop Wall, but there has been no response,” Halter added, explaining he has made personal visits to the Gallup chancery, and unsuccessfully tried to reach the bishop through phone calls and letters. In the six years Wall has been bishop, Halter said, he only recalled the bishop visiting the mission twice, with the last visit in 2010.

St. Bonaventure did hire Albuquerque attorney Charles R. Hughson, who filed a complaint against the diocese in bankruptcy court in January 2014. Hughson argued that the Thoreau property had been given to St. Bonaventure by the diocese, and that the mission’s former chief executive had transferred the property back to the diocese without authorization.

Less than three weeks later, Hughson withdrew the complaint. That decision, Halter said, was made after diocesan attorneys cited case law regarding the mission’s possible share of litigation costs.

Neither Susan Boswell, the lead bankruptcy attorney for the diocese, nor Suzanne Hammons, the diocese’s media coordinator, would respond to questions posed about the St. Bonaventure situation.

Ordered into mediation

The Thoreau properties became further embroiled in the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case earlier this year when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma approved the diocese’s request to appraise the value of five “key properties,” including the disputed St. Bonaventure property.

And on April 27, Thuma ordered St. Bonaventure to participate in mediation with the Gallup Diocese and eight other parties June 10-11.

“I am not certain as to why we are the only Catholic School in the Diocese of Gallup that has been ordered to participate in the mediation except for the fact that we believe a real injustice is being done by having our lands included in this bankruptcy issue…” Halter said.

Halter also questioned why the Southwest Indian Foundation, another nonprofit charitable organization operating in the diocese, had not been ordered to participate. SWIF, which was founded by chancery officials, operates a successful national mail order catalog business that specializes in Native American-themed products. Bishop Wall has served on its board. In a recent court motion, diocesan attorneys asked Thuma for permission to auction off select real properties. Although the motion only includes one small piece of property in Thoreau, it leaves the door open for adding more properties in the future. That provision has left Halter and other St. Bonaventure officials worried.

Hardship for mission

Halter said mission officials are concerned the diocese will put additional Thoreau properties on the auction list, and they are also concerned the diocese may require St. Bonaventure to purchase the property it has been using for decades.

“Is it fair for us to have to buy back property that we feel are already ours?” he asked.

St. Bonaventure has purchased other property in Thoreau, Halter said, and officials have considered the expensive and difficult option of moving all the operations of the school and mission off the disputed property and onto the other property.

“This option has been discussed,” Halter said. “It is not our favorite option but is certainly within the realm of possibilities.”

Halter said any loss of the disputed property will severely affect St. Bonaventure’s school and charitable work, and any amount of money it has to contribute to the diocese’s plan of reorganization will create hardship for the mission and the people it serves.

Cindy Howe, St. Bonaventure’s office manager, echoed those concerns. She outlined a lengthy list of charitable programs that she said St. Bonaventure provides to low income Navajo families living on the eastern portion of the reservation.

“There’s a really big need on the Navajo Nation,” Howe said. “If there’s no St. Bonaventure, I don’t know where these people will go.”

“I’m hoping all this goes away one day and we’re still here,” she added.