KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- Catholics in Nepal are worried now that Hindu extremists who killed a Catholic priest are also threatening other Church workers and institutions.

Bishop Anthony Sharma, apostolic vicar of Nepal, told UCA News on July 23 that threats and demands for money have prompted him to write to the Home Ministry seeking security for Catholic priests and Religious -- nuns and brothers -- working in the country. "The constant threats are causing anxiety, and a sense of insecurity has grown among the Catholic community," he said.

Bishop Sharma met with Home Secretary Umesh Kanta Mainali in Kathmandu on July 22 and handed him the letter expressing his concerns.

The Nepal Defense Army (NDA), which is fighting for the restoration of Nepal as a Hindu country, is blamed for a number of bomb blasts and murders in several parts of the country, including that of Salesian Father John Prakash Moyalan in Sirsiya, southeastern Nepal, on July 1. Nepal's government declared this former Hindu nation a secular state in 2006.

According to Bishop Sharma, NDA members took Father Prakash's mobile phone with them after murdering him. "The mobile phone had numbers of some Catholic Religious working in various parts of Nepal and educational institutions, and they are now using the phone numbers to call up priests and threaten them," he explained.

"The group is not exactly against the Church," he continued. "All it wants is money, and it is using the Church and the priests to try to get it."

The prelate said the home secretary told him the government is trying its best to apprehend those involved in the murder and threats "soon."

Bishop Sharma's letter to the Home Ministry, made available to UCA News, says the NDA includes money in its demands, backed by threats of "arson, bombing and killing of marked persons."

It adds: "Their repeated intimidations against our 30 educational institutions and 40 or more social development programs in at least 60 districts of the country make us seriously concerned about the safety of our 17,922 students and other personnel, 99 percent of whom are non-Christians." The letter expresses hope that "peace prevail and harmony be restored so that we can continue to serve the nation and its citizens without fear and with pride."

When contacted for comment, Home Ministry spokesperson Modraj Dotel told UCA News on July 24 that he has yet to see the bishop's letter.

From Dharan, about 300 kilometers east of Kathmandu, Salesian Father Augusty Pulickal, pastor of St. John Bosco Parish there, told UCA News: "Despite the threats and intimidations, we will carry on with what we have been doing." He said the government has provided security personnel who guard the Salesian center there around the clock.

Pilar Father Eusebio Gomes told UCA News from Pokhara, about 200 kilometers west of Kathmandu, that Catholics there have not received any threats but remain alert. "We have upped security at the gates of our schools and stopped going out in the night," he said.

Two prominent Catholic schools are located in Pokhara -- St. Mary's School, run by the Congregation of Jesus, and St. Francis School, run by the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier.

Binod Gurung, Kathmandu-based president of the Nepal Catholic Society, fears "anything untoward" could happen anytime to the Church and its institutions in the capital. "Maybe the NDA wants to terrorize us and extract some money, and so they can go to any extent," he said on July 23.

Local media have reported several attacks on religious minority communities in the past year. These include a bomb explosion at a Christian orphanage in Birgunj, south of Kathmandu, and four bombs thrown at a mosque in April in Biratnagar, Nepal's second-largest city.

About 80 percent of Nepal's estimated 28 million people are Hindus, while the rest are mostly Buddhists, with smaller Muslim and Christian communities. According to the 2006 Nepal Catholic Directory, 1 million Christians live in the country, 7,500 of them Catholics.

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