By Anand Mathew
Varanasi, Dec 23, 2025: Hundreds of people on December 23 attended the funeral of Indian Missionary Society Father Prashant, a renowned charismatic preacher, at the IMS Dhyana Bhawan, Alleppey, Kerala, southern India.
His death on December 20 has shocked millions of his fans all over the world.
Father Prashant had been the director of the society’s retreat center, Dhyana Bhavan, in Punnapra in Kerala’s Alleppey district for the past 37 years. Under his leadership, the place became a renowned retreat center in the coastal belt of southern Kerala.
Father Prashant used his missionary training in northern India to blend oral proclamation of the Word of God with humanitarian service to the poor. He believed in giving Kerygma (sharing of the Gospel) through proclamation as well as acts of mercy.
He preached about the Lord coming as hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, prisoner, stranger and shelterless as narrated in the Gospel of Matthew. With the contributions from the retreatants, he built houses for the poor people who lived in small huts on the seashore.
With the help of his large number of volunteers he picked up beggars from the streets, battered women, poor widows and mentally challenged women. As a great devotee of Mother Mary, he sheltered these women in four homes which he named Maria Dham, Maria Bhavan, Maria Sadan and Marialaya around the IMS Dhyana Bhawan and also in his home town Pallithode in the northern side of Alleppey district.
He successfully motivated the laity to support these shelter homes with food and provisions. It became a customary practice in Alleppey and the neighboring districts for families to feed the inmates of these centres on the occasion of weddings, birthdays and death anniversaries of their dear ones.
Father Prashant wanted the Bible to reach every home and distributed Bibles freely. He was a great devotee of the Holy Eucharist and large crowds of people came to participate in the Holy Eucharistic celebrations which he officiated. It would last three hours with many action songs and participatory activities.
In his personal life, he was a man of deep faith and spent long hours in prayer along with fasting. He undertook long pilgrimages and organized pilgrimages for the laity to well-known pilgrim centers often on foot. Under his leadership, IMS Dhyana Bhavan organized special days of prayer for widows, elderly women and fisher folk.
With the onset of digital media, Father Prashant adapted new strategies in evangelization. He used the social media for sharing the Word of God. His online Eucharist services were watched by thousands of people all over the world and took immense spiritual contentment from these programs.
Various Christian channels, both satellite and YouTube, telecast his celebration of the Holy Eucharist and homilies. Mini Siby from Kainady village said: “It was always a joy and highly fulfilling spiritual experience to take part in Fr. Prashant’s unique celebration of the Holy Mass.”
Father Prashant was born on April 13, 1955, to Reynold and Ernamma of Arukulassery family at Pallithode in the Alleppey diocese of Kerala. He was christened Placid and was fondly called Unni at home.
After completing seventh grade in the parish school of Pallithode, Placid with an ardent desire to be a missionary in North India joined Bharat Rani Preshit Bhavan, in Punnapra, an apostolic school of the Indian Missionary Society.
He completed his High School studies in St. Joseph’s School, Punnapra and reached Varanasi in June 1970. In 1973, he completed three years of Postulancy in the mother house of the Indian Missionary Society in Christ Nagar, Varanasi. During this period, he also did his Intermediate studies.
After a year of novitiate, Placid made his first profession on May 25, 1974, taking the religious name Prashant. He had his studies in philosophy in St. Joseph’s Seminary, Allahabad, and also in Vishwa Jyoti Gurukul, Varanasi.
During his studies in Theology in St. Albert’s College, Ranchi, Brother Prashant was involved in the charismatic movement organizing prayer meetings in various tolas (wards) of Ranchi city. Prashant was ordained a priest on December 28, 1981.
His first missionary assignment was in Manipur. He worked for seven years in Thanlon and Singhat missions of Imphal diocese. In 1989 he was transferred to IMS Dhyana Bhawan to lead the retreat center.
Father Prashant’s powerful preaching attracted many thousands for monthly night vigils, weekly intercessory prayer on every Monday. He also initiated different types of renewal programs specifically designed for widows, couples, youth, fisherfolk and the center gained popularity in the entire Travancore area as a most visited spirituality center.
He empowered the laity to be preachers of the Word of God by giving them training in counselling. Under his leadership, hundreds of men and women were given professional training in counselling and spiritual direction in IMS Dhyana Bhawan.
A week before his death, Father Prashant complained of breathing problem. He was admitted in Aster Hospital in Kochi, where the doctors diagnosed multiple heart related ailments.
The funeral service was telecast live by Shekinah channel.
Father Prasen Raj, the society’s superior general, paying tributes to Father Prashant, wrote that “Fr. Prashant laid a foundation of prayer, discipline, and spiritual renewal that continues to stand firm against the storms of life. He was a preacher who carried the fire of the Gospel with zeal. His words were not mere speech, but living bread for the hungry and living water for the thirsty. As Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), Fr. Prashant became that channel of rest and renewal for millions over the last 40 years.”
Father Ashwin Mathew, the provincial of the Delhi Province, wrote that Father Prashant’s “presence among us was a source of encouragement and his words and actions reflected his profound trust in God’s providence. His life bore witness to simplicity, dedication and quiet fidelity.”
His death is a huge loss for the Kerala Church and the charismatic movement. May Father Prashant who lived the Good News and preached it to millions continue to inspire us to become Good News to each other. He who blended the Gospel Kerygma with charity and humanitarian service help the Church to be at the service of the marginalized.