Emmanuel Pallakunnel
Ordained: 1952
- 1953-1966: Unknown
- 1967-1969: St. Raymond, Mt. Prospect, IL (CHI)
- 1970: St. Pius X, Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
- 1971-1978: Unknown
- 1978: Died
Fr. Pallakunnen arrived in Chicago in 1955 to study education. He spent 11 years in Chicago, living with host families and working at seven parishes, including St. James in Arlington Heights, St. Luke’s in River Forest, Immaculate Conception in Highland Park, and St. Anastasia in Waukegan. In 2006, a woman reported to the Archdiocese that Fr. Pallakunnen sexually abused her at St. Mary’s parish in Buffalo Grove when she was nine years old. Fr. Pallakunnen’s personnel file, released in 2014, showed that in 1996 then-Cardinal John Cody wrote to Fr. Pallakunnen’s supervisor in India that the priest’s tenure in Chicago “has gradually lost sufficient foundation,” resulting in Fr. Pallakunnen being forced to leave Chicago. Fr. Pallikunnen’s whereabouts and whether he had access to children from 1971 until his death are unknown.
Fr. Emmanuel Pallakunnen Timeline
6/15/66 Letter from Pallkunnel to Archbishop Cody announcing his withdrawal from the Archdiocese of Chicago. (AOC 004445)
Summer 1966 According to a 2007 report, Pallkunnel sexually abused a minor girl. The abuse consisted of fondling and oral sex. (AOC 004490)
2/16/78 – Deceased
8/11/06 Report of sexual abuse by Pallkunnel at St. Mary’s parish in Buffalo Grove. The survivor was about 9 years old in the mid-1960s when she was abused. She recalls that Pallkunnel admitted to the abuse and that he said abuse was accepted in India. (AOC 004442- AOC 004443)
1/14/08 Memo summarizing the archived file of Pallkunnel. (AOC 004491-AOC 004492)
5/14/08 Investigative report from Hillard Heintze on Pallkunnel. (AOC 004472 – AOC 004489)