Father Maria Susai Arul
Diocese of Lafayette
Ordained: 1957
Resigned: 1988
Died: 2002
Assigned as follows:
- Little Flower Parish (Mobile, AL)
- Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church (Ville Platte, LA)
- St. Catherine Church (Leonville, LA)
- St. Jules Catholic Church (Prairie Laurent, LA)
- St. Leo the Great (Lafayette, LA)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Fr. Maria Susai Arul:
Fr. Maria Susai Arul was ordained a priest in 1957, and served in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Lafayette. He arrived in the United States in 1973 from the Diocese of Kottar in India. He attended school at Villanova University in Villanova, PA and the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.
According to media reports, in December 2018, The Archdiocese of Mobile publicly named Fr. Arul on its list of credibly accused clergy. The Archdiocese indicated that Fr. Arul belonged to a religious order but failed to name the order. The alleged abuse took place in Little Flower Parish in Mobile, AL between 1989-1990. No information regarding the age/gender of his alleged victim/victims and the nature of the alleged sexual abuse was provided. The Archdiocese of Mobile prohibited Arul from the ministry.
A 2015 lawsuit filed against Fr. Arul and the Diocese of Lafayette alleges that Arul molested an altar boy in 1981 when he was working in Ville Platte. The lawsuit was settled, and no criminal charges were filed. Fr. Arul’s name appears on the Diocese of Lafayette’s disclosure list in April of 2019.
Fr. Maria Susai Arul resigned in 1988. He died in 2002.
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