Palma Abuse Focus of Sex Abuse Suit

By Julia Reynolds
Monterey Herald
November 19, 2014

http://www.montereyherald.com/general-news/20141119/palma-abuse-focus-of-sex-abuse-suit

Clarification: A story in Thursday’s paper quoted staff at Jeff Anderson & Associates law firm saying the firm planned to name Palma High School in a lawsuit. On Thursday, a firm representative said attorneys decided “at the last minute” not to name Palma as a defendant in complaints filed Thursday.

SALINAS >> The Rev. Gerald Funcheon, who taught at Palma High School in the 1980s, is the focus of two lawsuits announced Thursday by five former students who say the former chaplain abused them during Funcheon’s assignments in Salinas and in Shoreview, Minn.

The Minnesota law firm of Jeff Anderson and Associates, which has pursued clergy sexual abuses cases nationwide, announced the suit Thursday morning, outlining details of the allegations against the Funcheon and Crosier Fathers & Brothers, over abuse they say occurred at Palma and St. Odilia’s School in Minnesota.

Attorneys for the former students say they declined at the last moment to name Palma in the suit. The details announced Thursday include a videotaped deposition where Funcheon admits to assaulting a boy.

Funcheon is a former chaplain and teacher at the school. Over his career, he had assignments in Minnesota, Indiana, Florida, Nebraska, Hawaii and Salinas.

The case is being brought in state court in Minnesota. Dr. Steven Cantrell, a former Palma student, is a plaintiff in the case.

Palma president Brother Patrick Dunne said late Wednesday he couldn’t comment because he hadn’t seen the lawsuit.

Last year, nine former Palma students joined some 400 people who are sharing a $16.5 million settlement with the Irish Christian Brothers for sexual abuse they suffered at schools affiliated with the order in the United States and Canada.

The settlement was part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy the Irish Christian Brothers and the Christian Brothers Institute of New York filed in April 2011, in response to more than 300 claims of sexual abuse in Seattle and Canada.

Palma was not a party to that settlement.

Though the school historically has been affiliated with the Irish Christian Brothers, it is incorporated separately from the religious order.

Julia Reynolds can be reached at 726-4365.