Dhanaraj pastored parishes falling under the ecclesiastical purview of the Karnataka Southern Diocese of the Church of South India beginning with the Christ Church, Pollibetta,[REF] the Maddock Memorial Church, Kushalanagar [REF].
Dhanaraj moved to Mangalore in 1978 after completing his postgraduate studies in Old Testament at the Protestant Regional Theologiate in Bangalore and began teaching at the Karnataka Theological College along with C. D. Jathanna and also John Sadananda.