KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- Leaders of a Hindu and an interreligious organization joined the head of the Catholic Church in Nepal to pray for a slain Catholic priest and called for unity to oppose increasing attacks on minorities.

Around 800 Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus and Muslims gathered in the auditorium of Jesuit-run St. Xavier's School here to pray for Indian Salesian Father Johnson Prakash Moyalan, whom gunmen killed on July 1 in eastern Nepal.

Nepal Catholic Samaj (society), the legal entity that represents the local Catholic Church, had organized the two-hour prayer gathering in the capital.

The media have reported several attacks aimed at minority communities in the last year. These include a bomb explosion at in a Christian orphanage in Birgunj, south of Kathmandu near the Indian border, and four bombs thrown at a mosque in April in Biratnagar, Nepal's second-largest city, also near the border but farther east. Militants made threats and killing Father John Prakash, as the slain priest was known.

Nepal Defense Army, a militant group that wants Nepal to be a Hindu country again, has claimed responsibility for these attacks. Nepal's government declared this former Hindu kingdom a secular state in May.

Bishop Anthony Sharma, apostolic vicar of Nepal, opened the July 14 gathering and read out a condolence letter the Vatican had sent.

Father Prakash, 59, was buried on July 4 in Bandel, near Kolkata, India. The late priest was a member of the Salesians' Kolkata province.

Damodar Gautam, president of the World Hindu Federation-Nepal told the gathering that the growing threats against leaders and members of religious minorities are a matter of grave concern.

"Let the work of the late Catholic priest encourage us all and let us all try to understand each other well, irrespective of religion, and move ahead together," he said.

Expressing "shock and dismay," and solidarity with the Catholics in Nepal, Keshav Chaulagain, a Hindu and secretary of Inter-religious Council-Nepal (IRCN) said people of all religions should condemn the murder. He said IRCN was formed with a view to stopping such acts of murder, repression and persecution of minority religious communities.

P.P. Adhikari, IRCN president and also a Hindu, added, "We people of all religions should move ahead as one to stop these acts and crimes against humanity."

Protestant Pastor Simon Gurung expressed his hope that "IRCN and all other interfaith groups in the world will work closely together to stop such crimes." He also hoped "that the other Catholic priests working in the country will continue Father Prakash's good work and the late priest's soul will have eternal peace."

The slain priest's Salesian superior in Nepal, Father Benjamin Pampackel, praised Father Prakash's commitment to the poor. "Come rain or shine, he would always be there for them," Father Pampackel said.

Father Prakash was born on Oct. 15, 1948, in Ollur, Kerala, southern India, according to a pamphlet given out at the meeting. He ran various aid programs for five villages and was the principal of Don Bosco School in Sirsiya.

He is the second Catholic priest to be killed in Nepal, but the first believed to have been targeted as a Christian. An unidentified assailant killed Jesuit Father Thomas Edward Gafney at his office residence in Kathmandu on December 14, 1997. The murder remains unsolved, but some Catholics in Kathmandu suspect drug dealers to have been involved, since Father Gafney had crusaded against illegal drugs.

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