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Bishop Wall’s latest excuse
Gallup Independent
October 20, 2018
Nothing Bishop James S. Wall does – or doesn’t do – surprises us anymore. He almost always disappoints, but we are never surprised by the behavior of the bishop of the Diocese of Gallup.
Wall’s response to New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is just a typical James Wall response – polite, dressed up with nice words and promises, but also chock-full of lame excuses. Over the last nine years, whenever Wall has been presented an opportunity to act in a way that promotes truth and transparency, he has chosen to obscure the truth and obliterate transparency. Whenever Wall has been presented an opportunity to offer support and assistance to survivors of clergy sex abuse and their families, he has chosen to throw obstacles in their path and send his attorneys to battle them.
Nine years ago, local Catholics, the general public and the Gallup Independent warmly welcomed Wall’s arrival in the Diocese of Gallup. We were all weary of the scandals and dysfunction that marked Bishop Donald E. Pelotte’s turbulent tenure. We all expected Wall to sweep the diocese clean and usher in a new era marked by truth, transparency and authentic Christian leadership. What we didn’t expect was Wall taking his bishop’s broom and dustpan and sweeping all the dirt back under the chancery carpets.
Now New Mexico Attorney General Balderas has the broom and dustpan. Balderas has asked all three of the state’s Catholic bishops to cooperate with him and be truthful and transparent about the clergy sex abuse, misconduct and cover-up that has taken place in their dioceses since 1950. And what has Bishop Wall’s response been? More nice words, more promises of cooperation, but also more lame excuses.
Wall’s latest excuse is that although he really wants to cooperate with Balderas, he would be violating federal law if he turned over many confidential files. That excuse would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic. When it comes to clergy sex abuse in the Diocese of Gallup, when have any Gallup bishops ever been concerned about violating the law? They have been covering up the molestation of children and the victimization of vulnerable adults since the diocese was established in December 1939. What is laughable is Bishop Wall’s list of “credibly” accused abusers that is woefully lacking the names of many other individuals who have also been credibly accused of molesting children, sexually assaulting or harassing adult victims, and causing scandal with their misconduct, boundary violations and unethical misdeeds.
Certainly there were documents in the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 reorganization that were sealed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma. The “proof of claims” forms that were filed by survivors of clergy sex abuse are the primary documents that were sealed because they contain the names of abuse survivors and their allegations of molestation. The judge also sealed the case’s “confidential mailing list” that contained the names and mailing addresses of every known clergy sex abuse survivor in the Gallup Diocese. Those documents obviously need to remain sealed from public view, but there is no reason the New Mexico attorney general should not be granted access to them.
However, we believe the “confidential” documents at the heart of Wall’s current excuse are the personnel files of clergy who have been accused of abuse and misconduct. Wall has been protecting those files ever since he became bishop in 2009. Those are the files clergy sex abuse claimants asked Wall to publicly release during the bankruptcy case – only to be met with refusal by the bishop. Those files are not confidential because of any federal law or court order – they are only deemed “confidential” by Wall and his attorneys because they contain the diocese’s dirty secrets.
All the personnel files Bishop Wall has secreted away are his to share with the New Mexico attorney general. Wall does not need permission from a bankruptcy court judge to share files in his possession and files he controls. The only exception would be the personnel files of religious order clergy being maintained by the Franciscans, the Crosier Fathers and Brothers, the Claretian Missionaries and others who have worked in the Diocese of Gallup. The attorney general will need to take on those religious orders to obtain their abuser files.
It should also be noted that Wall and his attorneys should be called out for their smarmy pretentions of being “eager to build a partnership” with the attorney generals of New Mexico and Arizona “in the protection of victims” of clergy abusers. No Diocese of Gallup official has ever had any interest in partnering with law enforcement until now – until Hector Balderas came knocking at their door. Balderas needs to shut their pretentions down and just serve them with subpoenas.
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