NEW MEXICO
Patrick J. Wall
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Gallup New Mexico has become the twelfth Bishop or Provincial to seek bankruptcy protection. Gallup rounds out the first dirty dozen of Dioceses and religious orders to hide behind the federal bankruptcy courts.
The filing is not a surprise. It broadcasts the clear intention of avoiding depositions under oath. Bishop James Wall and Father Lawrence O’Keefe J.C.D. are leveraging the civil courts to avoid disclosing what they learned in auditing all the Gallup Secret Archive files.
Why file for bankruptcy protection? Look at these 24 clerics who have been in the Diocese of Gallup.
Father William G. Allison is a Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana priest who was sent for treatment at the Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs, NM. After treatment, Bishop Bernard Espelage OFM accepted him into the Gallup diocese ad experimentum where Allison sexually abused three minors in Flagstaff, AZ (before Flagstaff became part of the Phoenix Diocese). Bishop Espelage then shipped Allison to the Diocese of Fresno. His status is unknown.
Father Michael Aten was removed for childhood sexual abuse in 1991.
Father John Boland plead guilty to childhood sexual abuse in 1993.
Father James Burns plead guilty to molesting minors in 2004.
Father Santino Casimano was a Diocesan priest who worked in the Navajo Nation and is accused of sexually abusing minors in several dioceses, including the Diocese of Orange, CA.
Father Charles Chicanowicz O.F.M. is a Franciscan Friar to abused children on the Navajo Nation.
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