Editorial: Bishop Wall must apologize to all parishioners

Gallup Independent
June 14, 2016

http://gallupindependent.com/

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., May 28, 2016 As part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy settlement that is reaching a conclusion between the Diocese of Gallup and clergy sex abuse claimants, Bishop James S. Wall will have to do something officials have refused to do in the past — apologize.

Under non-monetary provisions of the settlement being proposed, Wall would have to send a letter of apology to all the abuse claimants in the bankruptcy case and/or, if requested, to immediate family members unless the claimant requests that no letter be sent.

Wall would also have to personally visit each Catholic parish or school in which “abuse is alleged to have occurred or where identified abusers served.” He would also be required to publicize the visit and invite those who have been abused and be available to address questions and comments.

Our suspicion is that if these non-monetary provisions make it to the final settlement agreement, Wall will find these requirements even more onerous than any money the diocese will have to pay the claimants and their attorneys.

Wall has not shown himself to be someone comfortable with apologies. He is also not a leader who keeps his word. When Wall first took over this diocese, he promised to be open and transparent about sexual misconduct and abuse that has occurred here. He has not lived up to that promise.

In recent years, we have seen an awakening within the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican to encourage bishops to be open and transparent to regain the trust of members of the church. The Gallup bishop apparently didn’t get that memo. He has been as secretive as any of the bishops of old, giving out information only when it seems he has no other choice.

But if there was any time in the history of the Gallup Diocese that we need to see a change in the attitude of the bishop, it is now. And the key to this may be in the way of bringing harmony of K’e back to the people of the Navajo Nation. Under Navajo tradition, things can’t be made whole until the party who has done wrong admits wrongdoing and apologizes for his or her action. This sets the stage for those who have been injured to put the incident behind them and move forward in their life. This tradition shares some basic reconciliation principles with Christianity.

Perhaps Pope Francis realized the importance of this principle when, during a tour of South America in July, he apologized to the people of North and South America for the crimes the church committed against Native Americans.

Pope Francis apologized for what he called grave sins that were committed in the name of the Catholic Church during the colonization period. His apology was sincere and genuine and it resolved many of the negative feelings that native people have had toward the church.

Wall needs to do this within the Gallup Diocese. Native and non-native residents in Arizona and New Mexico must feel that the crimes of clergy sexual abuse have been recognized by the diocese and that church leaders are sincerely sorry for the suffering that has been experienced here, not only by abuse victims and their families but by everyone living in communities across this large, rural diocese.

If Pope Francis has the humility to apologize for misdeeds and crimes done in the name of the Catholic Church, so should the bishops who serve under the pope. And it should start with Wall.