About two decades ago, on a trip to India from Kathmandu, I decided to walk a shortcut south of our valley for two and a half days to reach a highway. The second stop was at Rai Gaon, a village on the “Inner Tarai,” flat land between the 3,000 m high hills to the north, and the lower Siwalik range leading to the southern plains bordering India. I quickly found a host to provide me a night’s hospitality. As we chatted, I explained that I was a Christian priest and teacher. My hosts quickly announced, “We too are Christian!” There was no church there, nor a pastor, but the people did know their scripture!
“How did you become Christians?” I asked.
“A generation ago people here were close to starvation because the rains had failed. A group of missionaries landed a Twin Otter loaded with grain on our barren fields and saved the day. They had heard of our plight and simply wished to help out of concern for us. We wanted to be like these attractively happy and generous people, so asked them to teach us.”
This year marks sixty years of service the United Mission to Nepal has given to the needy here. In 1951 a few missionaries came to start a hospital at Tansen, a town in south-central Nepal. With the government’s blessing through an agreement in 1954, the work slowly expanded to add education, technical training, and community development to the services the Mission provided. The organization is now a coalition of Christian organizations representing twenty different countries from four continents. As needs changed, local people took over some projects, others closed having fulfilled their goals, while more opened to meet the changing needs of Nepal as the country grew.
This wonderful service taught people the value Jesus’ law of love. Now there are close to three hundred thousand Nepali Christians; churches with well trained Nepali leadership. These people make up about one percent of Nepal’s population. Among them are about eight thousand Catholics.
Jesuit pioneer Fr. Marshall D. Moran and a small Jesuit team also began service in 1951, founding St. Xavier’s School at Godavari, on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley. Other religious congregations of men and women joined in. About sixty religious priests and a hundred and seventy religious sisters serve through education, social service and medical care. Nepal’s Catholic Church is now an Apostolic Vicariate. Our second Apostolic Prefect, Bishop Paul Simick, has recently replaced Bishop Anthony Sharma, S.J., who served us for almost three decades. Eighteen priests work directly for the Prefecture.
The UMN vision reads: Fullness of life for all, in a transformed Nepali society. (www.umn.org.np [1])
Our Nepal Jesuits’ vision is a little longer: We disciples and companions of Jesus within the Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus in Nepal live out Jesus’ law of love, peace and justice in community, and in collaboration with people of good will, we boldly present Jesus’ Good News to the people of Nepal especially the poor and the marginalized.
Our call is the same, to share the Good News with all Nepal’s people, most of whom are not Christian. Nepal is evolving new political structures which will hopefully bring more justice and prosperity. Structures are not enough, however. Our active care for one another brings those structures to life.
Someone got that Twin Otter to land at Rai Gaon. Others took advantage of the chance to offer help thanks to changing political structures here in 1951. Wherever we are, may we keep our senses and hearts attuned to those who are in need, so as to work together as we offer God’s Good News to all.