Southwest abuse victims face continued abuse

GALLUP, NM—“Spotlight: A Public Discussion about Faith, Journalism, and Protecting Children from Sex Abuse” was held on September 24 at Gallup’s El Morro Theatre. The event was held in conjunction with two free screenings of “Spotlight,” the 2015 Best Picture Academy Award winner.

At that panel discussion were panelists Terry McKiernan, of Boston, the founder of BishopAccountability.com and a consultant to “Spotlight”; Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor, who represented 18 clergy sex abuse claimants in the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case; Gallup attorney Billy Keeler, who has represented Navajo plaintiffs in Catholic sex abuse lawsuits and currently represents Navajo plaintiffs in abuse complaints against the Mormon Church; and Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola, a freelance journalist who has covered the Gallup Diocese for 14 years. Rachel Kaub, station manager at KGLP Gallup Public Radio, served as the event’s moderator.

The modern day suspense drama “Spotlight” tells the true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that uncovered a decades-long sex abuse cover-up at the highest levels of Boston’s diocese, legal and governmental establishment.

Last July, the Albuquerque Journal published an article on the Diocese of Gallup’s threat to withdraw monetary settlements, including $21 million for victims of clerical sexual abuse “if claimants insisted that the church publically release the personnel files of accused priests, attorneys for the claimants said.”

According to the Journal, the files on priests were made public and became a “significant issue” during the final months of the diocese’s 31-month bankruptcy case, said James Stang, a Los Angeles attorney who represented the 57 people who filed claims against the diocese.

We asked that (the files) be published or be delivered so we could publish them if we wanted to, and they said no,” Stang told the newspaper. “We were told that it was a package deal.”

Facing the possibility of losing their settlements, the committee that represents claimants in the case felt “they had little choice but to withdraw their demand for records,” Stang said.

Criss Candelaria, an Arizona lawyer and one of 57 claimants in the case said that “he will not access the file of his abuser, the Rev. James Burns, because he fears the threat of the court sanctions should he speak publicly about his abuse.

“Even if you are talking about stuff you didn’t get from that website that they set up, they could still accuse you of that,” Candelaria stated.

Candelaria, 56, said he was sexually abused in the early 1970s by Burns, who pastored a church in his hometown of Springerville, AZ. Candelaria was about 11 at the time.

Burns served as a priest in the Diocese of Gallup from 1962 to 2002. During that time, the diocese appointed him to more than twelve parishes, including three in New Mexico. Burns pleaded guilty in 2004 to two felony counts of sexual conduct with a minor in Winslow, AZ, and was sentenced to a year and a half in prison in New Mexico. He died in 2010.

In its July 22, 2016 editorial, The Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board wrote the following: “The Diocese of Gallup drives a hard bargain—one in which truth is a casualty.

“In the case of the $21 million settlement to victims of priest sexual abuse it’s a deal that essentially re-abuses the victims by making them fear they might lose their hard-fought settlements if they reveal details of their abuse. In one case, a victim was so afraid of court sanctions he did not dare to look at the one record that pertained to his abuse.”

“Such a bully tactic certainly seems to indicate a lack of contrition. But it appears to be business as usual for the church, whose leadership for years kept hidden from its faithful members the abuse visited on innocent children by some clergy.

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester, whose areas of oversight includes the Gallup Diocese and who has said he won’t tolerate abuse, should use his influence to correct this poor treatment of past victims.”

The newspaper goes on to challenge Gallup Bishop James S. Wall to “reconsider the church’s policy of continuing to conceal decades of predatory criminal activities.”