Father Gerald Funke retires
Father Gerald Funke washes the feet of parishioners during the Mass of the Last Supper at St. Agnes in Weiser. (ICR Archive Photo)
By Emily Woodham
Staff Writer
Father Gerald Funke retired this year after 44 years of active ministry in the Diocese of Boise. His decades of serving parishes and the Diocese include ministering for four years in Colombia, where he experienced needing to deescalate a hostage situation during a daily Mass and escaping a shooting.
When he returned to the States, he served as a canon lawyer and vocations director, helped St. Paul’s Parish in Nampa build a new church, and restored the century-old church of St. Agnes Parish in Weiser. Given his many accomplishments as a priest, it might seem surprising that he was hesitant to answer the call to the priesthood.
“The call came like a kind of bother in the back of my mind,” Father Funke said. After graduating from high school, he went to the University of Idaho in Moscow with no desire to enter the priesthood. But the idea that he should consider going to seminary kept popping up. “I kept having this sense that I needed to go to seminary, and I would think, ‘That’s not what I want to do. That’s not my plan.’”
One night, toward the end of his freshman year, he made a bargain with God. “I told Him that I would go to seminary, but only after I finished my sophomore year. And that if I don’t like seminary, I’m leaving,” he said. He kept this nagging call to seminary to himself. Then just before Christmas of his sophomore year, he finally contacted the vocations director for the Diocese of Boise.
Father Funke went to Mt. Angel Seminary in Oregon in the fall of 1976. He continued to discern his call in seminary and answered with a re-sounding “Yes!”. He was ordained by Bishop Sylvester Treinen on June 20, 1980, at his home parish, Assumption Church in Ferdinand. He has never regretted his decision.
“I have always enjoyed my life and ministry as a priest,” he said. “I like the assignments I’ve had, and I have had great support from people and priest friends. I have been very blessed.”
Father Funke came from a long line of German farming families who helped settle the Camas Prairie in north central Idaho. He grew up in Ferdinand and was taught by Sisters from the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood from elementary to high school. Several extended family members were Religious. His mother and Monsignor Andy Schumacher, both of whom passed away this summer, were first cousins.
When he went to seminary, he had an opportunity to study Spanish for a summer in Cali, Colombia. This proved providential because his first assignment after ordination was at St. Mary’s Parish in Caldwell (now a part of Our Lady of the Valley). “They had a large Hispanic congregation and Spanish Masses. I didn’t speak Spanish very well then, but they were very patient with me,” he said.
To help him become more fluent in Spanish, he studied in Mexico during the summer of 1982. The following year, he was assigned as associate pastor at San Marcos Parish in Cali, which had partnered with the Diocese of Boise. “Father Henry Carmona was the pastor there at that time. There were a lot of problems in other areas of Colombia, but Cali was relatively peaceful.”
Unfortunately, sometimes political tensions affected even Cali. During an evening daily Mass, a guerrilla group of young men tried to take the parish hostage. “Just a few of them had weapons,” Father Funke explained. “They took over the doors and wouldn’t let people leave. But they missed one of the back doors.”
After Father Funke helped people escape out the back doors, he con-fronted the young men and warned them that the police would be coming. The incident ended without anyone being harmed.
Father Henry Carmona and Father Funke concelebrate Mass in Cali, Colombia in 1982.(ICR Archive Photo)
When Father Carmona returned to Boise, Father Funke was assigned as pastor at San Marcos. Soon after, he received visitors to Cali who wanted to see the work of the parish and school. But while showing the visitors the school, shots were fired at them.
The parish had just bought a white SUV, which unfortunately looked similar to the white Suzukis driven by police. “There were no students at the school when I took the visitors to see it. Then suddenly we heard shots ring out. So, we went into the building. That’s when we realized they were shooting at us.”
The people of the neighborhood came out to see what was happening. They immediately ran to the guerrillas and told them that they weren’t shooting at police; they were shooting at Father. As soon as it was clear, Father Funke went to speak to the guerrillas. “They were greatly embarrassed that they had shot at a priest. But I told them that they weren’t going to scare me out of there.”
When the guerrillas demanded that he change the paint on his SUV, he refused. “I told them that it’s not a Suzuki, and we’re going to be here. I went back the next Sunday for Mass, and we got along. I didn’t bother them, and they didn’t bother us.”
After four years of serving in Colombia, Father Funke went to St. Paul University and the University of Ottawa, both in Ottawa, Canada, for his J.C.L. (licentiate), and master’s in Canon Law, respectively.
When he returned to the Diocese in 1989, he was appointed administrator for Our Lady of Limerick in Glenns Ferry. He then served as pastor at St. Jerome’s in Jerome (1991-1993), Holy Rosary Parish and stations (now a part of Pope St. John Paul II Parish) in Idaho Falls (1993-1998) and Mary Immaculate Parish and stations in St. Anthony (1993-1995). In 1998, he was assigned pastor at St. Paul’s Parish and stations in Nampa, where he served for 16 years.
During that time, he oversaw the building of the new parish church for St. Paul’s on 20 acres of land that the parish had owned since the 1960s. He and the parish resolved that no debt would accumulate for the construction of the church building. The project required cooperation and team-work from everyone within the parish and included space on the property for a parish hall (now Marist Hall).
After raising funds for ten years, they were able to begin building around 2009. Because there was a slump in construction, the parish could stretch its funds even more.
“Someone in construction said that we saved probably 20 percent on the construction of the church because of the timing,” he said. The church has won a national award for its beauty and architecture.
The community also decided to renovate the St. Paul’s school building, for which they would take on debt so that it could be built sooner rather than later. The original “St. Paul’s School was built in 1921. I think it was the last school, public or private, [built without] running hot water,” Father Funke said. In addition to installing hot water pipes, he added more space to the existing building. Plans for a new school building are in the works under the current pastor, Father Justin Brady.
Father Funke was assigned as rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Boise in 2014. Then in 2019, he was assigned as pastor at St. Agnes Parish in Weiser. Last year, he worked with the St. Agnes community to refurbish the parish church, and their efforts won an award from an Idaho historical society.
Father Funke worked hard to apply lessons from seminary professors and priest mentors. No matter where he pastored, whether in small or large parishes, for a few years or more than a decade, he tried to listen to parishioners and earn their trust.
“Earning the trust of the parish is key to getting everyone to work together,” he said. “Remember that a parish community has been there long before you have been there.”
Father Dennis Day (left), Father Gerald Funke, Bishop Tod Brown, Father Raul Covarrubias and Msgr. Dennis Falk on Jul. 23,1991, at Our Lady of Tears in Silver City. (ICR Archive Phots)
“The parish community has a history, which needs to be respected–learn and respect that history. And remember that the parish is, hopefully, going to have a long history after you leave. So don’t destroy the parish. Hear their story and be respectful of that.”
Another piece of advice that has rung true through the years is to con-sider the parish community as a large ship. “The captain can say, ‘Let’s turn to the right.’ The ship will do it, but it can’t make a sharp right. It’s going to need time. You can turn off the engines to stop it, but again, it’s going to take a while for the ship to stop. So, you need a lot of patience and kindness to steer the ship.”
In addition to his duties at parishes and for the chancery as a canon lawyer, he has served as vocations director for the Diocese twice, from 1989 to 1996 and from 2013 to 2019. His best advice for those discerning their call to the priesthood or Religious life is: Do not be afraid.
“If you sense the possibility of a call, just give it a shot. Don’t be afraid. A decision to go to the seminary or to enter a postulancy is not a decision to be a priest or to be a Religious,” he continued. “It’s a decision to ‘come and see.’ It’s like going out on a date; it’s not a decision to marry. And the system within the Church is built for this decision-making process.”
Although the decision-making process is long, he said the time is well spent, even if a person discerns not to become a priest or Religious. “I have spoken with several people who have said that they appreciated the time they spent discerning to become a priest or Religious, even though they didn’t choose that particular path. So don’t be afraid to go to seminary or to enter a postulancy.”
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