Any Ex-HINDUS please help

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God_Willing

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Hi all,
Thanks for listening!

I am facing a bit of an issue with my husband. He was raised in a NORTH Indian home, his parents were Hindus but non practicing (They never went to temple, etc).
I am Catholic and my husband is not, but now is thinking about it.
Although he grew up in a non traditional Hindu home, now that we want to have kids he wants to pass on his rich Indian heritage, without including Hinduism. This is one of the issues as he doesn’t know how he could attend an Indian event and not participate in the prayer part of it.
Another more serious problem is that his parents don’t think it’s possible for him to become Catholic without completely disregarding his ethnicity and are upset with him.
I’ve told him there are many parts to a culture and being Catholic doesn’t make you less Indian. But he’s told me it’s not exactly like that because the culture strongly upholds itself in Hinduism, especially because he is North Indian not South Indian, and of Brahmin caste. Moreover, he says his parents would never understand that and he doesn’t know how to talk to them about this without them feeling like they were a failure by not raising him “more Indian”. His parents are okay with the fact he doesn’t go to the temple now, the problem is, that by becoming Catholic, they would feel he’s completely ignoring his culture…if that makes sense.
Bottom line is, he is now thinking about being Catholic but doesn’t know how to reconcile being Indian with being Catholic.
How have you guys:

1- Explain your decision to your parents and helped them feel at ease that you’re not disregarding your culture

2-Raise your kids with Indian values but being Catholic at the same time. How do you deal with going to events such as Diwali?

3-How do you practice Catholicism and still hold on to your North Indian identity? My husband is having difficulties thinking that now he will have completely diregarded his culture and identity. He does want to become Catholic but can’t reconcile this within himself and his family.

Please help
Thank you very much and God bless you!
 
I don’t know much about Hindus, but can you search for the religion that Bobby Jindal
professed before Catholicism? He was Punjabi and is now Catholic. He wrote about
his conversion.
 
Fear not my friend. I believe St. Thomas went there. What I mean to say is that there is a christian presence in India and has been since the beginning of Catholism. I believe there is a Malankar Christian and Maronite Christian following in India. He won’t be giving up his rich Indian heritage by becoming Catholic depending on which suri iuris he choses. Have faith ask questions and pray. 😃
 
Hello,

I feel deeply for you because I know this is a very difficult problem. My sister is married to a Hindu and our family is Catholic. He is also of the Brahmin caste and though he was born here, his parents are from India and are very traditional. He is not a practicing Hindu and I can’t tell how serious his parents are except for the cultural connection.

I have attended several Hindu ceremonies including their wedding. My sister had a priest there as well who did a Catholic wedding ceremony (no Mass) but he is not affiliated with Rome. Other Roman Catholic priests had said they would not marry them.

My sister is not a serious Catholic, so she is not too bothered by the differences. I have a hard time with it. They baptized their first daughter and her husband went along with it, but they didn’t baptize their second. I believe the mother in law was annoyed with the baptism.

When I attend one of the Hindu ceremonies, I pray the Our Father, Glory Be, etc. repeatedly and I also watch their ceremony politely, but I do not participate in any spiritual way. Once they gave me a fruit mixture which is part of the ceremony for blessing a new baby. I was told it is like our communion. I took it and said thank you but I did mention that our communion has a different meaning. I focused on thinking of the precious sacrifice of Christ which is the real Communion.

I am sorry to go on about my own story, but I just want to explain that I think one can attend Hindu ceremonies as a guest without participating in their intended spiritual nature. I also understand how his parents feel because the culture is so strong that is their very essence. They will feel very threatened if your husband becomes a Catholic because, as you said, they will feel that he is rejecting who he really is.

This said, maybe he can let them know of his decision, should he choose to go forward, but still honor them by attending their ceremonies. Hopefully, in time, he may be able to explain his faith to them and have them understand. I know that seems impossible, but through the grace of God, it could happen.

I will pray for both of you.

May God bless you,
Alicia
 
God_Willing said:
Hi all,
Thanks for listening!

I am facing a bit of an issue with my husband. He was raised in a NORTH Indian home, his parents were Hindus but non practicing (They never went to temple, etc).
I am Catholic and my husband is not, but now is thinking about it.
Although he grew up in a non traditional Hindu home, now that we want to have kids he wants to pass on his rich Indian heritage, without including Hinduism. This is one of the issues as he doesn’t know how he could attend an Indian event and not participate in the prayer part of it.
Another more serious problem is that his parents don’t think it’s possible for him to become Catholic without completely disregarding his ethnicity and are upset with him.
I’ve told him there are many parts to a culture and being Catholic doesn’t make you less Indian. But he’s told me it’s not exactly like that because the culture strongly upholds itself in Hinduism, especially because he is North Indian not South Indian, and of Brahmin caste. Moreover, he says his parents would never understand that and he doesn’t know how to talk to them about this without them feeling like they were a failure by not raising him “more Indian”. His parents are okay with the fact he doesn’t go to the temple now, the problem is, that by becoming Catholic, they would feel he’s completely ignoring his culture…if that makes sense.
Bottom line is, he is now thinking about being Catholic but doesn’t know how to reconcile being Indian with being Catholic.
How have you guys:

1- Explain your decision to your parents and helped them feel at ease that you’re not disregarding your culture

2-Raise your kids with Indian values but being Catholic at the same time. How do you deal with going to events such as Diwali?

3-How do you practice Catholicism and still hold on to your North Indian identity? My husband is having difficulties thinking that now he will have completely diregarded his culture and identity. He does want to become Catholic but can’t reconcile this within himself and his family.

Please help
Thank you very much and God bless you!
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Hi God_Willing!

Please check out Cathopologist on this forum and here

cathopologist.com/

He is a north Indian Brahmin and a convert to Catholicism.

Christianity in Kerala is ancient. That ancient community of locals that came in communion with the Catholic Church in 1599 was very small. The authentic ancient community were also Hindus, but they evolved a culture of their own with time. So it won’t be much of help to someone from North India.

The vast majority of Christians in Kerala however were converted since the arrival of Portuguese in 1500.

Remember, culture and religion are two different things. Indian culture is very Hindu, but it also absorbed a lot of Muslim and Middle Eastern culture in the North whereever Muslims had a strong presence. Eating a meal cooked with a Muslim recipe does not make it an Islamic dish. And so it is with other things which are merely cultural but not religious.

It is a misunderstanding that one cannot be Indian and Christian at the same time. One only needs to shed the religious symbols, and keep the cultural elements minus Hindu gods.
 
God_Willing

I would also ask you not to encourage or participate in any Muslim bashing.

The Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church leaves no room for that.
 
In regard to not participating in hindu prayer:
I have many pagan friends; tho’ not the same, a silent and simultaneous prayer for their conversion is an appropriate thing, as is prayer for the well being of all.
 
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