Kansas Priest Shot Dead Outside Church, Suspect Arrested

Father Arul Carasala stepped out of his rectory Thursday afternoon at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. Minutes later, he was dead – shot just steps from where he’d greeted parishioners nearly every day for the past 13 years.

Police arrested Gary Hermesch, 66, of Tulsa, Oklahoma late Thursday. He’s now in Nemaha County Jail facing first-degree murder charges.

The shooting happened around 3 p.m. Neighbors heard gunshots and called 911. Emergency crews found Carasala, 57, bleeding on the sidewalk and rushed him to Nemaha Valley Community Hospital. He died shortly after arrival.

“I just saw him this morning,” said Mary Holthaus, who lives across from the church. “He was sweeping leaves off the church steps like he always did. Just doing his thing, you know?”

That’s what makes this so hard for Seneca’s 2,000 residents. Father Arul, as everyone called him, was woven into their daily lives. He was the priest who baptized their babies, married their kids, buried their parents.

“Last week he was at my grandson’s baseball game,” Tom Weber, who’s attended the church for 40 years, told the Leaven. “Just showed up in the stands, cheering like he was part of the family. And I guess he was.”

The killing marks another violent incident at a U.S. church, though few expected it in Seneca. The town’s last murder was in 1987.

Father Arul came to Kansas from India in 2003. At Thursday night’s packed memorial mass, Archbishop Joseph Naumann’s voice cracked as he remembered his friend. “He chose us,” Naumann said. “He chose this small town in Kansas to make his life’s work.”

Police haven’t said what led to the shooting. But in Seneca, the why doesn’t matter much right now. They’re focused on the empty rectory, the church that’s suddenly too quiet, and the priest who won’t be there this Sunday.

“You expect your priest to leave someday,” said Weber, staring at the church steps where Father Arul had swept leaves that morning. “But not like this. Never like this.”

Downtown, the marquee at Corner Tap just says what everyone’s thinking: “Rest in Peace, Father Arul. We miss you already.”

–Dwight Widaman