Father Lazara Carasala sits in his chair at St. Joseph’s parish in Nortonville.
by Bridget Weishaar
June 30 was Father Lazar Carasala’s last Catholic Mass in the United States. On July 10 he will make the 30-plus- hour journey home to his native country of India.
For the past 10 years, Carsala has called Nortonville home and been the priest for three parishes, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Nortonville, St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Valley Falls, and Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Mooney Creek.
Carasala’s initial contract was for five years. In 2017 he was granted a five-year extension and in 2022 one additional year due to the Coronavirus pandemic that happened in 2020.
While it’s not his idea to return to India, the bishop denied his request to stay. He hopes after serving a three-year term in his home country he will once again be permitted to return to America.
Born in India, Carasala is now an American citizen, passing the Naturalization test in 2021. What would have taken anyone else a year to accomplish, took Carasala just one month to complete.
His main reason for taking the test was to be allowed to travel to other countries at will and not having to undergo an extensive interview with the United States Embassy.
“Now that I have a passport, I can visit over 60 countries that I couldn’t do before,” he said.
Carasala first arrived in America in May 2012, where he spent a month of training at Conception Abby, a Benedictine Monastery in Northwest Missouri. His first assignment was at the Church of Ascension in Overland Park where he served as a parochial vicar.
A parochial vicar is someone who needs the pastor’s blessing to celebrate baptisms, confirmations, anointing of the sick, funerals and weddings. He was appointed to the parish by the bishop, but reported to the pastor.
His journey into priesthood began when he was 27 years old. His first official day in charge of the Jefferson County parishes was July 4, 2013.
Returning home, life will be at a slower pace for the priest as he will downsize from the three parishes to just one in the rural city of Gudur. He will also have to readjust to the noise and air pollution in India and the major difference in temperature.
In India, the temperatures in April and May can reach upwards of 110 degrees. The traffic laws are also different in India.
“Driving to the parishes here is calm and I could enjoy the corn fields, in India no one obeys the traffic laws. I am scared to drive there,” Carasala said.
Carasala will leave the parishes with a lot of memories. During his time here he performed 135 baptisms, 134 first communions, 26 weddings, and 110 funerals.
One of his fondest memories was when the doctor told parishioner Laverne Weishaar she was no longer allowed to drive herself to church. “She got wild and she fought with the doctor and said ‘You are objecting me to go to meet God on Sundays.’ ” She was 99 at the time.
“One time she called me to offer soup and kept on talking for hours,” he chuckled. Another time she asked me what my favorite pie was and the very next day she had me one baked. Every time I go home I tell my family of her and her garden.” Carasala said.
Some of his favorite memories here include riding the donkey to Mass on Palm Sunday.
“I was scared but I wanted the children to always have something to remember.” Carasala said.
Celebrating the Barn Mass is another fond memory Carasala will take back home with him. “The barn mass was a first experience for me. We never had anything like it in India. I only missed when the weather was bad or I was traveling home,” he said.
According to Carasala, the people of the parishes have been very generous during his tenure here.
“The parish and altar society are always hosting breakfasts and raising money for me to send to the children and elderly of my parishes back home in India.”
He was always astonished at the amount of people who would show up to help make the Lenten fish dinners a success. He had never seen anything like them before even in the Overland Park parish. When he first arrived, all the meals were served on real dishes and handwashed between each guest. Hundreds of people attended dinners each Friday during Lent.
“Many hands and good hands, expert hands, made them successful. We give more food items here than other churches.” Father said.
Being gone for so long, he will have to reacclimate himself to the customs of his homeland. Many things have changed over the course of 10 year’s time.
One thing he is looking forward to upon his return is being able to visit the Holy Land. It will only be roughly a five-hour trip from his new home town of Gudur. His sisters will also be less than a four-hour drive. Father lost one brother and both of his parents since living in America.
“In all these 10 years I have missed many weddings of my niece and nephews and baptisms of my own families,” Father said.
“I will miss the people of my parishes the most. I never expected to be here for so long.”
Replacing Carasala will be William Dun-Dery from the Catholic Diocese of Damongo in Northern Ghana.
He came to the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas on sabbatical and worked as the associate pastor at St. Michael Archangel (Leawood) in 2020. He was the parochial administrator at St. Dominic in Holton and St. Francis Xavier in Mayetta for two years. He is currently Parochial Vicar at St. Patrick in Kansas City, Kansas.