By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KANSAS CITY, USA (Worthy News) – A community was left in “a state of shock” Saturday as a Catholic priest died in the U.S. state of Kansas after being shot at his church’s rectory, church sources said.
A man from neighboring Oklahoma state was arrested in Thursday’s fatal shooting of Arul Carasala, 57, at a church rectory in Seneca in northeast Kansas, police confirmed.
Officers called to the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Seneca on Thursday afternoon and found the priest with gunshot wounds outside the rectory, the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office said. Carasala was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died, according to investigators.
Sheriff’s deputies and officers with the Seneca Police Department later arrested Gary Hermesch of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on suspicion of first-degree murder, officials announced.
County Attorney Brad Lippert said in a written statement that Hermesch, 66, was charged Friday and held in the Nemaha County Jail instead of a $1 million bond.
The charging complaint says that Hermesch “intentionally and with premeditation” killed Carasala. There was no immediate known reaction from the suspect.
“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,” said priest Brian Schieber, a Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.
GOOD SHEPHERD
“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 in published remarks.
He described the shooting as a “senseless act of violence.” Schieber told the Fox News Digital outlet, “We have no idea what the motive for this was.”
However, he stressed, “You know, we’re really praying for the person that killed Father Arul as well. And thank you all for your prayers.”
There has been a tradition within the Catholic Church of praying for an attacker. Soon after he was shot and injured on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, then Pope John Paul II asked pilgrims to “pray for my brother [gunman Mehmet Ali Ağca] … whom I have sincerely forgiven.”
The pope met and forgave Ağca, who was surging a life sentence for the assassination.
Ağca was pardoned by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope’s request and deported to Turkey in June 2000.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Israel expanded its military campaign against Hezbollah on Monday, striking more than 70 targets across Lebanon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to increase pressure on the Iranian-backed terror group following a sharp rise in drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel.
A federal appeals court is weighing whether Kansas City can use its public accommodation ordinance to require Christian counselors to counsel gay married couples despite the counselors’ biblical convictions on marriage and sexuality.
Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered in the Netherlands for one of Europe’s largest multi-day Christian events, with organizers and participants expressing hopes for spiritual revival in the nation and across Europe.
President Donald Trump pushed back Monday against sharp criticism from Republicans and former administration officials over a potential U.S.-Iran agreement, insisting that any final accord must prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or it will not be signed.
President Donald Trump said Monday that countries involved in negotiations over Iran should be required to join the Abraham Accords, signaling that the White House is seeking to turn a possible Iran agreement into a wider regional realignment that includes normalization with Israel.
Tensions remained high in Serbia’s capital Belgrade on Sunday after at least tens of thousands of people demanded elections and rallied against what they view as the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Aleksandar Vučić, with violence erupting after the protest and more than 20 people arrested.
Investigations were ongoing Sunday into the killing of three senior Kuki-Thadou Christian church leaders by unidentified gunmen in India’s northeastern Manipur State, Christian investigators told Worthy News.