Salesian priest murdered in his residence in Nepal

Published: 2008-07-01

ROME (CNS) -- A Catholic priest was shot dead by armed men who broke into the priest's residence in Nepal. Salesian Father Johnson Moyalan, from Kerala, India, had been living in Nepal for more than 10 years before he was killed July 1. The 60-year-old priest was the principal of a Don Bosco school in Sirsiya, in eastern Nepal. A group of four or five armed men forced their way into the mission and locked up one of the two priests residing there while they assaulted and shot Father Moyalan, said Salesian Father George Kalangara in an interview with the Asian church news agency UCA News. Father Kalangara told UCA News by telephone from a Salesian center in Dharan, Nepal, that it was not clear what happened next but that there was an explosion that caused extensive damage to the building. According to an Indian police report sent to the Salesian Generalate in Rome, the armed men detonated small bombs at the residence.

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