William S. Skylstad

William Stephen Skylstad (born March 2, 1934) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Spokane in Washington State from 1990 to 2010. That same year, Skylstad attended Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, and served as an assistant pastor at a parish in that town.

In 1960, Skylstad began teaching at Mater Cleri, a minor seminary in Colbert, Washington, evaluating student fitness for the priesthood. He entered Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, in 1961, graduating in 1964. In 1968, Skylstad was appointed rector at the Mater Cleri. That same year, he became the pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Colbert. He also sat on a personnel board that counseled the bishop on problem priests. Skylstad continued serving at Mater Cleri and St. Joseph until 1974. After having served as the vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) since 2001, Skylstad was elected to a three-year term as USCCB president on November 15, 2004. In April 2007, four prominent donors to the diocese wrote private letters to Skylstad asking him to resign, terming the sexual abuse settlement he approved as a "complete disaster". Skylstad expressed disappointment that the Spokesman-Review in Spokane had published the contents of private letters.

Retirement On June 30, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI accepted Skystad's letter of resignation as bishop of Spokane. In 2016, Catholic Charities USA named Skylstad as one of its two volunteers of the year. They cited his counseling and spiritual guidance to clients at the House of Charity in Spokane. Skylstad also worked to connect Catholic Charities of Spokane clients needing assistance.

Controversies

O'Donnell case Court records in 2005 showed that Skylstad during the 1970s, when was still a priest, consistently delayed acting response to sexual abuse accusations against Reverend Patrick O'Donnell, a priest with a history of inappropriate behavior with teenage boys. The diocese personal board removed O'Donnell from his current parish due to complaints from the pastor. The board then reassigned O'Donnell to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Spokane, where Skylstad was the pastor.

Abuse accusation On March 8, 2006, a woman accused Skylstad of having sexually abused her as a minor from December 1961 to December 1963 at both St. Joseph and Gonzaga University. The accusation was made as part of the diocesan bankruptcy agreement. He completely denied the accusations.

Amnesty International Abortion Policy change In 2007, while Skystad was USCCB president, Amnesty International (AI) considered abandoning its neutral stance on abortion rights for women in favor of a new policy considering abortion as an international human right under certain circumstances. The USCCB made several appeals to AI to remain neutral on abortion. In April 2007, the AI international leadership adopted the new abortion policy. On July 2, 2007, the USCCB renewed its earlier appeals to AI. In a statement signed by Skylstad, the USCCB said that AI: '"trivializes the harm done by abortion. AI's new policy appears to apply to every stage of pregnancy and has already led AI-USA to oppose laws against the killing of partially delivered children. Similarly, the policy of advancing access to abortion to preserve women's 'health,' a word left undefined by AI, has not confined the practice to narrow circumstances, but in American law has led to abortion on demand." In August 2007, the AI International Council affirmed the new abortion policy. In an August 23rd statement, Skylstad called the new AI position divisive and an affront to "people in many nations, cultures and religions who share a consistent commitment to all human rights".

"Bloody Mary" controversy In 2006, Skylstad condemned the "Bloody Mary" episode of the TV series South Park. In a letter to Viacom's president and CEO, Tom Freston, Skylstad said that the Comedy Central channel, owned by ViacomCBS, had shown "extreme insensitivity" in airing the episode, which featured a derisive statue of the Virgin Mary. When South Park was rerun later in the United States, Viacom did not air the "Bloody Mary" episode.

Amateur Radio Skylstad was also an active ham radio operator with the callsign K7KNL . In Yakima he would work the local 2m repeaters as Bill, with many users not realizing that he was the bishop.