Oldest US Catholic University appoints ‘Director for Hindu Life’

There are estimated to be 400 students and staff at Georgetown who identify as Hindu.

Washington:  The oldest Roman Catholic university in the United States, Georgetown, has appointed its first full-time “director for Hindu life”.The Jesuit institution’s announcement early this week noted it to be the first Hindu priest chaplain in the US.

Georgetown University’s newspaper The Hoya explained on Tuesday that Interim Vice President for Mission and Ministry Howard Gray, S.J. sent out a campus-wide email advising that Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan had been selected for the appointment.

“Br. Sharan was drawn to Georgetown by its commitment to interreligious student formation, and by the vibrancy of the university’s Hindu community,” Gray wrote.

Sharan had previously worked at the University of Edinburgh, where he had served as chaplain since 2010. He completed Hindu ritual training at Vishwanath Sannyas Ashram in Delhi and also serves as a senior monk at Shri Golok Dham Ashram.

He follows Pratima Dharm, a Hindu Army chaplain who worked at Georgetown for only three months before resigning in January for personal reasons.

“I pray as I prepare to leave you that you will continue to live out the very pluralistic principles of Sanatan Dharma [an alternative name for Hinduism] at Georgetown,” Dharm stated upon her departure.

There are estimated to be 400 students and staff at Georgetown who identify as Hindu.

Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, released a statement on Wednesday applauding the appointment and urging Georgetown to make additional accommodations for Hindu students.

“GU should make efforts to provide specific designated space for worship, congregation and cooking to Hindu students, like some other religions on the campus,” he said. “It should preferably include a shrine containing murtis (statues) of popular Hindu deities like Shiva, Vishnu, Rama, Krishna, Durga, Venkateshwara, Ganesha, Murugan, Saraswati, Hanuman, Lakshmi, Kali, etc.”

Source: Christian News