Hindu Catholic Dialogue Commemorative Brochure 20150523

Author(s): United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Publisher: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth.”
H4. Are women eligible to be clergy or religious leaders? Women cannot receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. However, they may occupy positions of leadership in accord with Church (canon) law, for example they can serve as Chancellors of a Catholic Diocese or justices in Diocesan Tribunals. Lay women and consecrated women (sisters or nuns) are serving as pastoral administrators of parishes that lack an ordained resident priest. It should be recalled that women have taken on leadership roles in the Church since the first decades of Christian history (see especially Romans 16). From at least the third century A.D., women have formed their own celibate monastic communities. There are many thousands of women saints, representing an extremely diverse spectrum of spiritual gifts, cultural backgrounds, and accomplishments.
H5. Is there a formal way to admit persons to this religion? Yes, there are formal ways to admit persons as governed by Vatican documents. See the initiation sacraments described above. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is the normative means by which converts are initiated into the Church in the present day, recalling the public ritual stages in which converts entered the Church in the early days of Christianity.
I. ATTITUDE TO THE “OTHER”
I1. How are other religions viewed in scripture or tradition? Other religions, with the exception of Judaism, are understood to be the outward expression of a natural desire to come to knowledge of God that is present in all human beings. Catholic Christians believe that the Jewish people received an authentic revelation from God in addition to the basic natural desire to know the truth. Thus, the Jewish faith is already a response to God's revelation. That revelation is found in the Old Testament, and finds its complete meaning in the New Testament and in the person of Jesus Christ. However, the Jewish people's adherence to an authentic revelation places them in a special relationship with the Catholic Church that is not shared by other world religions. There has always been some form of recognition that other religions have elements of that which is true and good. In the document Nostra Aetate (1965) of the Second Vatican Council, the Church officially recognized that there are such elements of truth in other religions and formally prohibited anti-Jewish teachings based on the erroneous notion that the Jews are collectively guilty for the death of Christ. Nostra Aetate also encouraged Catholics to engage in dialogue with members of other religions, shortly after 1965, the Vatican created a special Pontifical Council to promote such dialogue.
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HINDU - CATHOLIC DIALOGUE