James S. Wall ordained fourth bishop of Gallup

By Andrew Junker | May 5, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

GALLUP, NM — James S. Wall became the fourth bishop of Gallup and the youngest bishop to head a diocese in the United States April 23 before a packed Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Eleven bishops, two archbishops and one cardinal, more than 100 priests, scores of deacons, dozens of women religious and hundreds of laity were on hand to see Bishop Wall, 44, ordained and installed.

He succeeds Bishop Donald E. Pelotte, who retired as bishop of Gallup in April 2008. Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted had been apostolic administrator of Gallup since January 2008.

Flickr photostream: Ordination photos

But an episcopal ordination doesn’t happen overnight. Just ask Barbara Kozeliski.

The Gallup resident and parishioner of Sacred Heart Cathedral has been chairwoman of the ordination planning committee since it was formed more than six months ago.

That is, she had already been planning for the ordination and installation of Bishop Wall for four months before his appointment was even announced.

On the evening of April 22, Kozeliski surveyed the big white tent sitting at one end of the cathedral’s parking lot that would house the reception. She looked at the white vans that had been parked on the cathedral’s sidewalk that would broadcast the next day’s Mass.

And she was pleased.

Kozeliski noted that a local Pepsi distributor had dropped off a bunch of drinks for the reception, and a local grocery store — whose owners aren’t even Catholic — had pitched in for the reception.

“The entire city is rejoicing,” she said.

Actually, the rejoicing wasn’t just limited to Gallup proper. On April 23, hundreds of men and women both lay and religious traveled from all over the 58,000-square-mile diocese to see their new bishop ordained.

“For us, it’s the experience of a lifetime,” said Sharon Wheelock, who attends Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Holbrook, Ariz., a 90-minute drive from Gallup.

Wheelock works at her parish and drove up for the ordination with her co-workers, Sheila Ashenfelder and Laura Boyd. As they stood in front of the cathedral, waiting for the doors to open, Wheelock said how a joyous occasion like an ordination benefits everyone, no matter their connection to the diocese.

“Christians are getting such a bad rap everywhere these days,” she said. “Something like this is just such a blessing for all of us.”

Key figures

“It was an act of God when God destined James Sean Wall to be the son of a football coach and his wife, then living in Chinle, to be born in Ganado,” Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said in his homily.

He served as a co-consecrator with Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Edward W. Clark while Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe acted as the principal consecrator.

All three co-consecrators have played or will play a significant role in Bishop Wall’s life. Archbishop Sheehan is the metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province that includes both Gallup and Phoenix.

Bishop Clark taught Bishop Wall when he was a seminarian at St. John’s in Camarillo, Calif. The new bishop described Bishop Clark as one of his most influential mentors.

And, of course, Bishop Olmsted has been his ordinary for the past half-decade. For two of those years, Bishop Wall worked closely with Bishop Olmsted as the diocesan vicar for priests.

In his remarks to close the Mass, Bishop Wall thanked these three men, reserving special praise for his former bishop.

“The people of Phoenix as well as the people of Gallup know how wonderful he is,” Bishop Wall said. “And he’s wonderful because he has the heart of a shepherd.”

During his homily, Bishop Olmsted sketched a picture of God’s providence in the life of Bishop Wall, who was born on the Navajo Nation — part of the Gallup Diocese. But he also framed Bishop Wall’s new ministry in the context of love: love of God, love of the Church and love of his new flock.

“When we learn to love, when we learn to make a total gift of ourselves to another or to others according to God’s plan, we become like Christ,” the bishop said. “Our lives say with Christ, ‘This is my body given for you. This is my life blood poured out for you.’”

Inviting followers

It’s a tall order and a high calling, and Bishop Wall has made no secret that he has been nervous and unsure at times of his new appointment.

Julie Cipriano, an assistant to Fr. John Ehrich at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, said Bishop Wall has the character and management style to thrive as a new bishop.

Cipriano worked with Bishop Wall when he was the pastor of St. Thomas and was impressed by his obedience, which she said inspired his parishioners to be obedient to Church teachings.

“He’s a very strong and quiet leader,” she said. “He invites people to follow.”

Inviting people to follow him — think of his predecessors, the Apostles or fishers-of-men — will be paramount to his new ministry. The Diocese of Gallup currently has no men training for the priesthood.

Franciscan Sister Angelina Chavez said a priest shortage is an unfortunate fact of life in the diocese. She helps run a parish in St. John, Ariz., that doesn’t have a full-time priest.

She said that part of the priest shortage comes from parents discouraging their children’s vocation. Many times — especially in small towns, the sister said — parents want their children to leave and become economically successful.

“Materialism versus the vocational call is very challenging,” Sr. Angelina said.

Bishop Wall is undeterred. He repeated during his ordination Mass, “I know. I know there are vocations here.”

According to Deacon Will Schmid, a transitional deacon in the Phoenix Diocese, if anyone can find and foster them, it’s Bishop Wall.

“Just give him time. One of his gifts is to recognize God’s will for people,” Deacon Schmid said.

A few years ago Deacon Schmid went to a then-Fr. Wall for spiritual direction and began talking to the priest about potential job options. Fr. Wall asked him if that’s what he really wanted to talk about, or did he want to talk about his vocation.

Deacon Schmid said it was the push he needed to apply for the seminary. This June, he’ll be one of three priests ordained for the Diocese of Phoenix.

Bishop Wall is already getting started on this facet of his ministry. One of the first events in his schedule was a breakfast with the youth of the diocese on the Saturday after his ordination.

Emotional moment

After Bishop Wall was ordained and installed in the cathedra — the chair that signifies a bishop’s jurisdiction over his diocese — he spoke to his new flock.

“This year, when the Arizona Cardinals made it to the Super Bowl, I thought that was the biggest surprise of my life,” he said to much laughter.

He also promised to spend a great deal of his time visiting the 53 parishes and 27 missions across the diocese, and said he would be a staunch defender of the dignity of human life from conception until natural death.

That last promise drew loud, sustained applause from the congregation.

Bishop Wall also had a more personal message to his family sitting in the first few pews. Many of his five siblings, cousins and nieces and nephews made the drive up from Phoenix. The night before, Bishop Wall said getting everyone in the Wall brood together amounted to a minor miracle.

The new bishop thanked his family for their love and support and gave his mother, Joan Wall, a necklace made out of the same piece of turquoise that his episcopal ring was made out of.

The precious stone held great significance for the family. It was given to Bishop Wall’s now-deceased father on the Navajo reservation as payment for a football clinic he gave years ago.

It was an emotional moment for a family that Monique Wall, a sister-in-law to the bishop, described as very close.

“I think when Jimmy was ordained a priest, it was spoken at his ordination that, as his family, we were giving him away for God,” she said. “This is even deeper than that, because he’s not going to be local anymore.”

Still, she described the two-plus hour Mass as “a little taste of heaven,” and mentioned one benefit to the new distance between the bishop and his family.

“It’ll remind us to pray for him more,” she said.

Bishop Wall was born Oct. 11, 1964, in Ganado, Ariz., on the Navajo reservation. He graduated from Chandler High School in Chandler and Arizona State University in Tempe where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. He earned a master of divinity degree from St. John Seminary in Camarillo, Calif.

He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Phoenix on June 6, 1998.

Bishop Wall served in several parish assignments in the Diocese of Phoenix, including St. Theresa Parish and St. Timothy Parish in Mesa, and St. Thomas the Apostle Parish as pastor. He also served as administrator pro tem at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Glendale. His most recent assignment was as vicar of priests and director of the Mount Claret Retreat Center.