GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
September 19, 2013
After a last-ditch legal maneuver was denied by an Arizona judge, Bishop James S. Wall of the Diocese of Gallup submitted to a deposition Wednesday by two attorneys who have filed 13 clergy abuse lawsuits against the diocese.
Wall’s deposition was held in Albuquerque and was accompanied by the deposition of the Rev. Alfred Tachias, a longtime Gallup priest. The depositions took place as scheduled because the diocese has yet to file its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, a move that will halt the proceedings in the civil lawsuits.
However, at least for the time being, the contents of Wednesday’s depositions are confidential, over the objection of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Robert E. Pastor of Phoenix and John C. Manly of Irvine, Calif.
“Bishop Wall and Father Tachias gave statements under oath today,” Pastor said in an email Wednesday evening. “We are not permitted to discuss the content of their testimony because at the outset of the deposition the Diocese of Gallup designated the testimony confidential. We noted our objection and found it odd that the Diocese would make the testimony confidential before the witnesses even testified. We hope that one day all of the facts surrounding clergy sexual abuse of children in the Diocese of Gallup will be shared with the faithful Catholics of the diocese.”
The depositions were scheduled as part of Pastor and Manly’s first clergy sex abuse case against the Gallup Diocese, which is scheduled to go to trial in February in Coconino County Superior Court in Flagstaff, Ariz. The case involves abuse allegations against the Rev. Clement Hageman, who is deceased. Tachias formerly worked as an assistant pastor under Hageman.
Last-minute motion
In Masses held over the Labor Day Weekend, priests in the Gallup Diocese read a letter from the bishop, announcing plans to seek Chapter 11 reorganization because of increasing numbers of clergy sex abuse lawsuits and claims. [For texts of the letter and related civil complaints, see Diocese of Gallup to File Bankruptcy, by Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola, Gallup Independent, September 3, 2013.]
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