By Matters India Reporter
Alappuzha: June 1, 2022: A Catholic priest was found hanging inside the parish hall of St Paul’s Church, Kalath, in Alappuzha May 31.
Father Sunny Arackal’s body was found by the parishioners at 4:30 pm when they came for a meeting.
He was a native of Chethi near Mararikulam in Alappuzha district. He had served the parish parish of the diocese of Alleppey for the past five years.
The 65-year-old priest was expected to join another in Cherthala on June 5.
“With profound sorrow, imploring and trusting in God’s unfathomed love and mercy, let me communicate you the sad news of the death of Rev Fr Sunny Arackal,” says a message in the diocese’s Facebook page.
A senior priest of the diocese, a lawyer, says the diocese wants real investigation into Father Arackal’s death.
“He was a much loved person,” said the priest who is also a lawyer.
He also said the police have recovered a suicide note from the priest’s body but did not divulge its content. The police, however, said financial problems could have led the priest to die by suicide.
The repeated “suicides of priests and nuns in Kerala” is of grave concern. The Church officials and the laity in Kerala must wake up and do something about it and introduce all types of “preventive measures”. Prevention is better than cure!
How can a celibate priest without a family be having financial problems? It doesn’t make sense. Also the hierarchy of Kerala must hang its head in shame with the continuing suicides or clergy and religious. Why isn’t the CBCI/ CRI/ CPCI conducting a serious sociological/ psychological and anthropological study of the root causes of such suicides?