KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- The Church in Nepal has been trying to function normally amid rebel attacks, army pursuit operations and the declaration of a state of emergency in the Hindu kingdom.

Maryknoll Father Jack Corcoran, who arrived in Kathmandu from the small western town of Surkhet, where Maoist rebels attacked an airstrip and destroyed a helicopter Nov. 23-26, told UCA News that the army rather than the police are now manning the town "with hardly anybody on the streets."

He said that the three Protestant churches in the town may have to get permission to worship as meetings or group gatherings are now prohibited. "But people are confused as to what 'emergency' really means," he added.

The missioner, who usually travels to various Mass stations, observed that security forces have set up roadblocks and that his bus journeys have been longer with the constant stops for checks.

Surprise night attacks last week by Maoist rebels on banks, airstrips, government buildings, prisons, police and army barracks, and ammunition dumps in the midwestern districts of Syangja and Dang, and the eastern Everest area reportedly left more than 100 people dead.

King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev declared a state of emergency Nov. 26 upon the advice of Nepal's prime minister. The move suspends civil liberties, restricts the press, and limits freedom of assembly, expression and movement.

Soon after the "state of emergency" declaration, Monsignor Anthony Sharma, apostolic prefect of Nepal, told UCA News that "violence is not the way to fight for a cause" and that the emergency situation may last for months.

For lasting peace, he said, "rampant corruption must come to an end or at least be reduced at all levels." The Church leader noted that aid funds from rich nations for education and development "end up inside a few pockets."

"Extreme poverty and inequality are the root causes of violence by the neglected people," according to Monsignor Sharma. He said that most people in Nepal "earn less than half a dollar day" and that for some in the western districts "there is not even enough edible grass to eat."

Nazareth Sister Ann Mary, her congregation's superior in Kathmandu, told UCA News, "Our schools are functioning" but outdoor activities are cancelled as the "situation is tense."

On Nov. 25, the Royal Nepal Army conducted their first-ever aerial attack within Nepalese territory. Using three helicopters, they fired at fleeing Maoist rebels in midwestern Rapti and Rolpa districts.

Local media reports said that "at least 40" rebels were killed in the attack and that the army was pursuing the rebels in the Rapti-Rolpa border forests.

Father Silas Bogati, parish priest of Assumption Church, Kathmandu's only public Catholic church, told UCA News that his parishioners offered prayers for peace upon learning of the attack. They are pained to see Nepalese killing Nepalese and young mothers becoming widows, he said.

Monsignor Sharma has advised the chaplain for the Nepal Catholic Youth Movement to make sure that participants from various districts coming for the National Catholic Youth gathering in Kathmandu Nov. 29 do not travel at night.

According to the chaplain, Father Augusty Pulickal, the youth gathering will push through despite the state of emergency. The meeting aims to come up with a national pastoral plan for youths, he said.

Since early 1996, Maoist rebels have led a campaign for socio-economic parity and a communist government in the world's only Hindu kingdom. The guerilla war has left some 2,000 people dead, reports say.

There had been hope of peace after rebels and the government reached an agreement and the rebels declared a cease-fire last July.

The state of emergency empowers the army to arrest people on suspicion of wrongdoing and hold them without trial. The ordinance must be approved by both the upper and lower houses of parliament within six months or it will lapse.

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