Corcoran

Father John J. Corcoran, M.M.

Posted

Father John J. Corcoran, M.M., a former Maryknoll Society vicar general who did missionary work in Korea and Nepal, died Sept. 26 in Kathmandu, Nepal.  He was 79. 

A native of Newport, R.I., he was ordained a Maryknoll priest in 1963 and assigned to South Korea where he did pastoral work in the Dioceses of Inchon and Pusan until 1972, as the Church in Korea was taking root and growing. In 1972, he was named Maryknoll regional superior in Korea and was re-elected in 1978.

He initiated a pig-raising project to provide meat and money to poor farmers, and parishioners expanded the project to include more than 15,000 pigs. He also served in a labor apostolate, providing pastoral counseling and seeking better conditions for migrants.

 Returning to the United States in 1980, Father Corcoran worked in the Society’s Formation Education Department before he was appointed rector of the Maryknoll Seminary in Ossining. He was elected vicar general in 1985 and served a six-year term as part of the Maryknoll General Council, the primary leadership body for the Society.

In 1991, he left for Nepal, where he was instrumental in establishing a program for mentally handicapped women prisoners. He also worked at a halfway house for mentally handicapped women in Kathmandu.

 He returned to the United States in 1996 and again was assigned to the Formation Education Department where he worked with Maryknoll seminarians and candidates attending the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. After completing his three-year term, he returned to Nepal.  At the time of his death, he was working with the mentally ill and handicapped and associated with a halfway house program. 

Father Corcoran earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University, then served as a diver with the U.S. Navy, 1953-1957. He entered Maryknoll after discharge and earned master’s degrees in theology and divinity from the order’s seminary in Ossining.

 He is survived by a sister, Sister Anne B. Corcoran, R.H.S.M., of Marymount Convent, Tarrytown, and three brothers, Michael, Edward and William. 

His Funeral Mass took place in Kathmandu. A memorial Mass will be offered at Our Lady Queen of Apostles Chapel at Maryknoll at a later date.

Father John J. Corcoran, M.M.