ASIA/NEPAL - Death of founder of first and only Catholic college in Nepal Jesuit Missionary Father Watrin

Kathmandu (Fides Service) - Yesterday March 1 the funeral of American Jesuit Father Eugene L. Watrin was held in the Church of the Assumption in Kathmandu. The priest, who died at the age of 83 after a long illness, was the founder of the first and only Catholic College in Nepal, St. Xavier College. Father Watrin will be remembered for his untiring social service to raise the level of education in Nepal. A man of unlimited enthusiasm Father Watrin was an expert in pedagogy who devoted most of his missionary life to promoting education and social progress in Nepal. He was a point of reference for generations of students and for all the Jesuits in Nepal. He was among the most active members of an interreligious group in Nepal. In 2001 he received an award from the Prime Minister for his social work and in November 2003 the King of Nepal awarded him a prize for his work in the field of education. Born in Ohio in the United States in 1920, Father Watrin entered the Society of Jesus in 1939. In 1947 he set out for mission in India where he was ordained a priest in 1952. He had worked in Nepal for the past fifty years. Nepal has a mainly Buddhist population of 23 million, of whom about 6,000 are Catholics. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 2/3/2004; Righe 14; Parole 228)