Nepal
(Maryknoll Father John Corcoran (left) pioneered the first project in Nepal to rehabilitate mentally ill patients )
He was a model priest and a great man that I always looked up to. His compassion for the weak and his exemplary life

The oldest active Catholic missioner in Nepal, Maryknoll Father John Corcoran, who worked in the least accessible part of the country, has died at age 79.

He worked in Surkhet, eastern Nepal, and died from heart failure in a Kathmandu hospital on Sept. 26 following a short illness.

His funeral Mass took place today at Kathmandu’s Assumption Church on Sept. 27 morning and attended by Umakanta Chaudhary, Nepal’s minister for Health and Population.

Father Corcoran was to be cremated later on the banks of the nearby Bagmati River, according to his wishes.

Father Corcoran was the oldest Catholic priest serving in Nepal. He also worked in Korea, where he was the Maryknoll regional superior and then taught at the Maryknoll seminary in the United States, said long-time friend Maryknoll Father Joseph Thaler. “After serving as Vicar General of Maryknoll from 1984-1990, he came to Nepal the following year when he was 60 years old - an age when most people retire,” he added.

Father Corcoran worked closely with the mentally sick for much of the past 10 years from a small office near his residence close to Surkhet’s market place. He would get doctors to treat patients, obtain medicines for them or sent them to a nearby Maryknoll rehabilitation center.

He was also the pastor for Surkhet and founded the “Surkhet” mission along with a Sister of Charity of Nazareth nun in 2000.

“He died the same day the sisters celebrated their patron’s St. Vincent De Paul’s feast day,” said Father Thaler, who flew Father Corcoran to the capital on Sept. 21 after the priest fell ill.

Surkhet is the least accessible mission in the country and involves a flight from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj town and then a half day bus ride on mostly unpaved roads.