WASHINGTON, D.C. – Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., was the first Catholic university to hire a rabbi and an imam to work in campus ministry, and recently became the first to hire a Hindu cleric as well, according to a University article.

In addition to providing Catholic chaplains and staff, according to a page on the Georgetown Campus Ministry site, the University also has a Protestant chaplain and assistant chaplain, Interreligious coordinator, and Orthodox chaplaincy director.

According to the University, Pratima Dharm, who recently retired as the first Hindu chaplain in the U.S. Army, has been hired as Georgetown University’s first Hindu chaplain.

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Dharm learned about the need for a Hindu chaplain through students who volunteered at Walter Reed Hospital where she was working. She approached Father Kevin O’Brien, S.J., vice president of mission and ministry, about the position.

“From its foundation in 1789, Georgetown, the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit university, has been open to students of every religious tradition,” said O’Brien in the University article. “Our campus ministry has expanded over recent decades to include chaplaincies in the Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Orthodox Christian traditions. The creation of a Hindu chaplaincy is another significant moment in this history.”

Dharm began her new role as a full-time chaplain within the University campus ministry, effective October 1, 2014.

She will reportedly lead a “weekly Hindu pujas or prayer service” which is attended by about 100 students.

Authored by Justin Petrisek
Originally published here by Catholic Education Daily, an online publication of The Cardinal Newman Society.

Published with permission