NEMAHA COUNTY —The community of Seneca, Kansas will honor a beloved priest who was shot and killed last week .
Father Arul Carasala will lie in state at Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Rosary prayers will be offered at 1:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 7:00 PM, according to Lauer Funeral Home.
He will lie in state with an overnight vigil until 9:00 AM on Thursday. A Memorial Mass will be held at 11:00 AM on Thursday, April 10, 2025.
Click here to view the Mass streamed on YouTube.
Following the service, Father Arul will return to India, where a Funeral Mass will be celebrated at his home parish, Sacred Heart Church, Kilachery Parish in Kilacheri, Tamil Nadu. His Funeral Mass will be live streamed on YouTube. He will be laid to rest at Sacred Heart Church Cemetery with his parents.
Memorials may be made to Fr. Arul Carasala Memorial 411 Pioneer Seneca, Kansas 66538. Click here to read the full obituary.
Gary Hermesch, 66, of Tulsa, Oklahoma. was charged Friday with Carasal's murder. He is being held in the Nemaha County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond, according to the Nemaha County Attorney Brad Lippert.
The charging complaint says that Hermesch “intentionally and with premeditation” killed Carasala, Lippert said. Authorities have not released a possible motive for the shooting or said whether the suspect and the priest knew each other.