Return to Sender
Sex abuse review board apologizes for 'huge mistake'

Letters sent to the Gallup Diocean Review Board on Juvenile Sexual Abuse were marked "Return to Sender" when mailed to the address listed in recent articles and advertisements. According to the Gallup Post Office, the P.O. Box was closed in November of last year. After complaints and an inquiry by The Independent, the Diocese of Gallup reopened the box last week. (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

GALLUP — "Return to sender, address unknown" worked well as lyrics for the late Elvis Presley.

Those words haven't been so well received for anyone who has tried to contact the Gallup Diocesan Review Board on Juvenile Sexual Abuse over the last five to six months. Although the board has been issuing press releases and placing ads in area newspapers encouraging victims of clergy sex abuse to write them at a post office box in Gallup, that box was shut down for almost five months and letters were being returned to their senders by the U.S. Postal Service.

The Independent has learned the review board didn't know its own post office box was closed, and based on information from the Gallup Post Office, it seems the board member responsible for checking the box for mail hadn't been doing so for at least six months.

Flurry of activity
The Independent received two complaints about the closed box in the middle of last month, just after publishing a press release from the review board which encouraged "any person having experienced sexual abuse or misconduct by clergy..." to write the board with their allegations. No telephone or e-mail contact information has ever been publicized for the board.

To test the credibility of the complaints, The Independent sent a letter to the review board in mid-March. After more than two weeks, The Independent's letter was returned with the stamped message: "Returned to Sender/Box Closed - No Order." One of the individuals who had complained to the newspaper also provided a returned envelope with the stamped message: "Returned to Sender/ Box Closed No Forwarding Order On File."

On Monday, April 4, The Independent sent an e-mail inquiry about the situation to several review board members, including Margie Trujillo, the chairperson of the review board. The newspaper also e-mailed a copy to Sister Mary Thurlough, the Victims' Assistance Coordinator for the diocese.

That inquiry from The Independent, which included 11 questions, apparently set off a flurry of activity within the review board and the Diocese of Gallup that ultimately resulted in the post office box being reopened by the end of last week.

By Friday, April 8, Trujillo sent a response by FAX to The Independent, and on behalf of the review board she apologized for "this huge mistake." Trujillo stated she had just learned on Friday, April 1 that the post office box was closed.

"Until last Friday," Trujillo said, "we had certainly not been aware that our post office box was closed last October and we are something akin to aghast that this was the situation."

"The post office box was opened just after our first official meeting as a Review Board in July 2002. The Diocese pays for this expense, and one of our board members living in Gallup strived to check the box twice weekly. For the record, no other person has ever had access to the box. Let me state clearly that there was no decision to close the post office box and responsibility for the fact that this huge mistake occurred must lie only with the Review Board itself."

"Essentially, our board member in charge of the key and mailbox did not follow up adequately in transferring the responsibility of maintaining the box to a second board member," Trujillo continued. "Upsetting and regrettable as this may be, it was clearly a matter of human error - a truly unfortunate mistake."

When asked, Trujillo did not say which board member was responsible for checking the mail.

Two longtime members of the review board, Floyd Kezele and Nenette Boucher, do live in Gallup. A third member from Gallup, Steve Heath, was just appointed to the board.

Trujillo also did not explain how the box was closed, but it appears the review board let the box rental lapse since no one was checking the mail.

According to the Gallup postal officials, renewal notices are placed in post office boxes during the first week of the month the box expires. Officials then give the box holders until the 10th of the next month, a 40 day grace period, to pay the rental fee. If the fee is not paid after 40 days, the box is sealed shut and all incoming mail is returned. Postal officials said the review board's box was closed in November 2004.

Apologies and criticism
Trujillo did thank The Independent "for your interest in the disheartening issue of clergy abuse and the importance of continually working toward lessening the devastation that this causes to victims."

She concluded her response with a further apology: "As the chairperson and on behalf of the entire board, I most earnestly apologize to you and any other person that may have attempted to contact us in the past few months. We share your concern for the negative message this sends to the public or any person wishing to contact us. Now having fixed this particular problem and bearing in mind the countless hours that our board members spend on the work of the Review Board, I can only reiterate our commitment to dealing with any victim and the issue of clergy abuse in a forthright and sensitive manner. Believe me, an error of this sort is the last thing that we would have wanted."

The Independent did seek e-mail comment from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Joseph Baca, of Phoenix, Ariz., is a SNAP member, a clergy abuse victim from the Diocese of Gallup, and is scheduled to meet with Gallup Bishop Donald E. Pelotte in early May to discuss issues pertaining to victims who have been abused in the Diocese of Gallup.

"It's unfortunate whether they may have been parishioners, victim/survivors or just curious people with concerns that may have written the sexual review board ..." Baca said. "It takes months, if not years, to get the courage to write and to have their mail returned is just a slap in the face. Let's just hope and pray that they'll write again to seek the help they were looking for in the first place. I personally cannot see how something as important and serious as contact with the sexual review board could be inadvertently overlooked."

"It clearly shows a lack of genuine concern," agreed David Clohessy, the national director of SNAP. Clohessy, of St. Louis, Mo., questioned what would happen if a victim reported "an abuser still in ministry" and that victimization continued for five months because the Gallup review board didn't check its mail and realize its box had been closed.

"This is one of the reasons we urge victims to report to the independent professionals in law enforcement," he added, "not biased, untrained church officials or volunteers."

"It's very sad and very telling," Clohessy said. "The issue now is 'what tangible steps will the board and bishop make to try and undo this harm and more aggressively reach out to victims?' We suggest that the bishop personally visit each parish where an admitted, known or credibly accused priest worked, and emphatically urge victims and witnesses to call the police."

Editor's Note: According to Trujillo, the post office box is open again and individuals are asked to write the board: Gallup Review Board on Juvenile Sexual Abuse, P.O. Box 3932, Gallup, N.M. 87305. Trujillo also released a new press release, "Charter Emphasizes Commitment and Services to Victims," which The Independent will address in an upcoming article.

— Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at (505) 863-6811, ext. 218 or ehardinburrola@yahoo.com.