A couple of weeks ago I found myself in New Mexico near the border with Arizona, delivering a series of lectures on the Gospel of Mark to the priests of the Diocese of Gallup. The diocese is said to be the poorest in the United States, and it includes no fewer than six different Indian tribes. The diocese is also enormous, with fewer than 50 priests serving a region that is approximately 55,000 square miles. (For context, England’s land area is around 51,000 square miles.)
I soon discovered that, although their numbers are small, the priests of Gallup go about their ministry with a joyful zeal. No doubt this says something about the dynamic orthodoxy of their shepherd, the Most Rev James Wall, who was just 44 when Pope Benedict XVI made him bishop. When I asked His Excellency what percentage of his brother bishops have beards (as he does), he estimated it to be a mere 10 per cent. Indeed, as far as I can tell, the current president of the USCCB, Archbishop Paul Coakley, is the only bearded prelate ever to hold that office.
