Rev. Dr. Arul Lourdu lovingly called by people as Fr. Arul lives in Leimen, Germany with Tamil origin for more than 20 years. During his teen years, he decided very strong to become a Catholic Priest and became a member of Society of the Divine Word soon after completing his Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry during 1989. In 1994, Fr. Arul completed his Bachelor of Philosophy in Pune which opened up new avenues in his career as he was selected for the Anthropos Training Program at St.Augustin, Germany. Since then he has acquired two Master's Degree, one in Masters in Theology from Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg in Germany during 2001 and Masters in Philosophy, Religion and Culture from Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu in 2021. Even after 50 golden years of life, his thirst for knowledge is still continuing with great vibrance and at present undergoing Doctorate Research in the Department of Theology at Heidelberg University, Germany.
Fr. Arul has been following the religious path with his Priestly Ordination at Freiburg, Germany since 18th May, 2003. He has been serving the Almighty as the Parish Priest of Leimen-Nussloch-Sandhausen from 2008 onwards. His illustrious career in the service of mankind and his sense of order and discipline has bestowed upon him various posts to spread knowledge and peace. He has published three books in German entitled – “Word on the Web”, “My Journey Within”, “Faith, Spirituality and Healing” on the themes of theology, spirituality, introspection, faith and healing,
His role as a leader for 15 long years has enabled him to garner enriching experiences and he has been involved in missionary acquisition in Germany and India to inspire young men for the priesthood, religious life, or diaconal ministry. He also serves as the Mentor for various religious orders in India and acts as the Organizer in the foundation and implementation of 7 religious orders within the Archdiocese of Freiberg in Germany. Fr. Arul has been a great inspiration in drawing people closer to God through the strong relationship with Jesus Christ. His sermons and lectures have had transformational effect on the listeners. He has been blessed with innate skills which has helped him to deliver meaningful and impressive sermons. Being abreast of the latest trends and changes in society, he has been streaming German video sermons every week in the local internet newspaper called Leimen blog via the You Tube platform since 2010 and from 2019, he has also started giving his English video sermons in his own channel - Arul Lourdu. So far more than 500 videos in German language and more than 150 videos in English has been published.
His Parish community at Leimen visited His Holiness Pope Francis with a private audience delegation on 28th September, 2022. This path-breaking event in the career of Fr. Arul happened for his uninterrupted pioneering work of weekly video sermons in German via the You Tube platform which has also been brought out in the form of a Book entitled, “Eloquence of a Stutter” in two Volumes published by Herz Jesu Publication, Germany and released by Rev. Dr. George Anthonysamy, Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore at Arulappa Hall, Santhome Cathedral Basilica, Chennai on 7th April, 2022. Fr. Arul known for his enthusiasm and transformational skills, is a great social media influencer and publish information through the platforms of his webpage www.arullourdu.com, Facebook and Instagram which attracts good number of audiences.
Fr. Arul Lourdu has received several prestigious awards and two Honorary Doctorates in recognition of his meritorious social work and commendable missionary service to mankind. He commits himself to the poorest in the world and the education of children in poor families through the NGOs especially in Tanzania (Africa) and Tamil Nadu (India).
“Arul Arakkattalai” is a trust conceived by Fr. Arul and has been registered in the city of Madurai of his native Tamil Nadu on 1st April, 2022 with the major objective of providing educational assistance to the poor and needy, medical assistance to the senior citizens, special assistance to the disabled and initiating income generation activities for the poor youth of Tamil Nadu. Fr. Arul, the founder of this Trust has individually involved himself into the philanthropical activities for the past 10 years and this has been created in order to help more needy people in Tamil Nadu. His Trust has taken a new turn on 2nd August, 2022 with the formation of the society in Leimen, Germany under the banner of Forderverein Arul Trust e.V. This society has its office bearers and 100 members of the community from Germany in order to mobilize the funds for running the Trust in Tamil Nadu and the efforts are on with the great leap-forward. The website of Arul Arakkattalai is under the process of building and it will be launched soon.
Finally, this exemplary innovative Missionary of Jesus Christ is having a forward-looking orientation for the new beginnings in Church development in 2030 and all his strenuous efforts and innovative endeavours is frequently published in the German daily newspaper – Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung and magazines in the region of Heidelberg with great compliments from his parish community and other social circles.