By Matters India Reporter

Chennai: A Catholic priest died March 26 after falling from the terrace of a major seminary near Chennai where he was teaching for the past several years.

According to a message from Monsignor L John Robert, administrator of Vellore diocese, Father Velanganni Vinothraj died because of a fall from the terrace of Sacred Heart Seminary at Poonamallee. He was 46.

The monsignor described the death as “very sad and shocking.”

The administrator said the funeral time would be decided after the postmortem. “Once we receive the news from the seminary we will inform you about the funeral in detail,” his message said.

Father Vinothraj was born on December 8, 1974, and was ordained a priest on April 26, 2002. He taught Theological Anthropology, his specialization.

22 Comments

  1. Sad loss. Respectful farewell to Father Velanganni Vinothraj. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and let your perpetual light shine upon the departed soul. Strength and courage to all his loved ones.

  2. Very sad to such a tragic end of young priest. The church must ask for impartial fair investigation.

  3. Present era is like never heard in early days of my childhood.It has become very common these days young priests committing suicide , priests accidentally falling from seminary terrace . Nuns falling into convent wells . Looks like something wrong in the system .Thorough investigation to find out actual cause of such death rather believing as accidental . May his soul rest in peace .

  4. Deaths of priests and nuns are repeating with alarming regularity . Any information from the relevant church authorities need to be taken with a pinch of salt . i for one, from past episodes find it very difficult to believe it was an accident. May be there was no well in the premises!
    Urge the authorities for a thorough probe for the sake of his family and to address the fears of priests and nuns who may entertain thoughts of some sinister ending for themselves . Too much unchristian has been happening as of late.

  5. Thorough investigation should be done, to find if there is any foul play,as we see these cases on the rise of young priest dying and nuns falling in the well and hierarchy and people in authority shove the case under carpet to save their position and image.

  6. Very sad and shocking to hear such tragic death of a young priest. Won what has led him to such accident???? May the Lord grant him eternal rest. May his soul rest in peace.

  7. The priest described as a great thinker and leader and a boon to mankind could surely not give up on life or even be so careless to trip over the terrace. Pray for a fair probe into the death of a priest so young and so loved by those who knew him. If he could be a guiding force to others surely he could take care of himself. His untimely death is shocking and needs a thorough probe.

  8. Sr. Abhaya death was initially stated to be accidental. Subsequently after a number of attempts to state it was accidental it was held to be murder. Who paid the advocates fees engaged by the covent cook in Supreme Court challenging narco analysis when she got no benefit? People can be fooled sometimes not all the times. All angles should be probed. May his soul rest in peace.

  9. Why? Seminarians’ formatter! V.sad.

  10. Doesn’t look an innocent incident . There has to be a detailed investigation. Covid 19 has badly affected collections. Even Vatican is cutting salaries of clergy. Was it financial distress or something else assuming fall was not accidental.

  11. Recurring insidents of death of young priests, is really disturbing. May the Soul of Rev. Fr. Velanganni Vinodraj rest in peace.

  12. Sad, may God grant him eternal rest. Our sympathies are with the diocese who is in a shock to recover…May his family be guided through Holy Spirit… Amen

  13. Very sorry to hear about father news RIP

  14. How and Why are the million-dollar questions. I keep the “increasing suicides among priests” in mind.

  15. Gentle reminder to publish my comments tks
    Silverius and felicia

  16. I fail to understand how a 46 year old priest fell from the terrace. We need much more information in this case. How did he fall? Was he alone? If the terrace is so unsafe, how & why did he have access?

    Was he depressed? What led him to depression? For how long has he been in this condition? Who has been treatng him? And what were the medicines administered to hi

  17. It is great lose and we have lost a great thinker, Leader and teacher, unacceptable death…Missing his in all the aspects…

  19. A thourough investigation shd be done
    Young highly educated dying at 46
    Wake up every one
    Something is wrong somewhere
    We have professional counselling done in our in our institutions

  20. Hope no foul play or suicidal tendencies involved

  21. Its sad to know the tragic death of a young priest. May God give him eternal rest.

  22. Its very sad to know of such death of a young priest.

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