A Catholic priest died in Kansas after being shot at his church’s rectory in an incident a fellow pastor told Fox News Digital has left his community in a “state of shock.”
Gary Hermesch, 66, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was taken into custody Thursday afternoon following the attack on Father Arul Carasala, 57, at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Seneca, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Hermesch was detained on suspicion of first-degree murder.
“We’re all just still in a state of shock. I mean, this is small-town America. And Father Arul was such a beloved pastor in Seneca, Kansas. He’s been a pastor there for over 13 years,” Father Brian Schieber, a Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, told Fox News Digital.
“A good shepherd knows his people by name, and Father Arul knew everybody. He, over these years, baptized so many people, did so many weddings, funerals, he was such a good confessor and present to people who were sick, had such pastoral wisdom, he is really beloved by everybody,” Schieber added.
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Schieber described the shooting as a “senseless act of violence.”
“We have no idea what the motive for this was. And, you know, we’re really praying for the person that killed Father Arul as well. And thank you all for your prayers,” he said.
Deputies from the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Seneca Police Department responded to a 911 call “reporting shots fired at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church rectory” around 3 p.m. local time Thursday, the KBI said.
When they arrived, they discovered Carasala “outside the residence suffering from gunshot wounds,” it added.
“Seneca EMS arrived and transported Father Carasala to the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital. Despite life-saving measures, he died at the hospital from his injuries,” the KBI also said in a statement.
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A mass was held at Carasala’s church Thursday night in the wake of the shooting.
“Father Arul was a friend to me and a great priest,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann wrote on Facebook Friday after leading the mass. “I shared in my homily that being a priest today requires heroic love. That quality was evident in Father Arul, who left India to come to the heartland of America and serve the people of the Catholic Church in northeast Kansas.”
“While we continue to mourn the loss of Father Arul, I pray that we will not lose hope. God is with us in our adversity,” Naumann added. “He can bring good out of evil. He can bring life out of death. Let us draw closer to Jesus during this time of sorrow and ask him to console our hearts.”
Schieber told Fox News Digital that “we are a small archdiocese, so we have about 150 priests and we all know each other really well.
“We’re like brothers to each other. And Father Arul was really helpful to me personally and will be dearly missed,” he said.
The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas said “Father Arul was a faithful priest who devoutly served our archdiocese for more than two decades.
“Ordained in March 1994 in his home Diocese of Cuddapah, India, he ministered at Sts. Peter and Paul… and also served as dean of the Nemaha-Marshall deanery. His deep faith, pastoral care, and generous spirit touched the lives of so many,” it added. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.”
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