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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Archived_member15" data-source="post: 163830" data-attributes="member: 17438">My dear Sikhi brothers and sisters mundahug I have created this thread to discuss the relationship between the Catholic tradition and the Sikh tradition: What we have in common and the areas where the two faiths seem to diverge from each other.  Since, through my study of Sikhi, I have come to realise that we have so very much in common, I thought it would be a nice idea to discuss these similarities further by quoting from Catholic Sacred Tradition and the Guru Granth Sahib ji.  I am very impressed by the Interfaith forum here on SPN and its sheer breadth. It is a real credit to this online community since it is so comprehensive of all faiths and shows a real commitment to dialogue!  I will be providing links to a variety of websites of actual Sikh-Catholic dialogue retreats and centres run by the Church and Sikh community themselves.  I would like to first of all link to this article: <a href="http://www.colsdioc.org/Offices/TheCatholicTimes/sikhs/tabid/1475/Default.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.colsdioc.org/Offices/TheCatholicTimes/sikhs/tabid/1475/Default.aspx</a> Its about an interfaith dialogue by Sikhs and Catholics run by the Roman catholic Diocese of Columbus, here are some excerpts from their conclusion:   "...Sikhs and Catholics who have been taking part in an ongoing dialogue for the past three years say it has shown them that the two religious traditions have many things in common and has led to a deepening appreciation of each other’s perspective.  “We have formed bonds of friendship and of respect for each other and for the words and traditions that have great meaning to both of our faiths, and this is at the beating heart of this dialogue,” said Dr. Tarunjit Butalia, a Columbus resident who helped organize the dialogue’s third session. The event took place Friday through Sunday, May 29 through 31, at the Shrine Center for Renewal in Columbus.  Throughout the weekend, representatives of both faiths made presentations and conducted discussions on how the two religions view the nature of God. They presented summaries of their activities at a dinner on May 30 attended by members of the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio representing the Catholic, Sikh, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Moslem, Buddhist, Hindu and Baha’i faiths. Out of respect for the Jewish Sabbath, Jewish members of the association were not asked to participate.  Speaking at the dinner on behalf of the Catholic representatives was Father Francis Tiso, associate director of the ecumenical and interreligious affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He and Butalia, a research scientist at The Ohio State University, are among those who decided to start a formal dialogue in 2006. This came about as a result of informal conversations following a meeting in New York of an interfaith group known as Religions for Peace – USA.  The first Sikh-Catholic National Retreat took place in 2006 in Huntington, N.Y., with a theme of “Divinity, Humanity and Creation.” It was followed the next year by a gathering in Washington highlighting the subject of holiness.  “This year’s meeting built on those two and went into greater depth than the others,” because its subject was the nature of God, Father Tiso said.  “We found that both of our faith traditions have a similar sort of caution talking about God – the idea that words can’t fully express his nature, that ‘God is greater than … .’ This is one thing the discussion brought out in a number of insightful moments.  “We are both monotheistic religions, sharing that in common with the Muslim and Jewish traditions, Sikhs and Catholics both believe in the transcendence and the eternal nature of God.  “We differ on the concept of the Trinity. On the question of ‘Can God be a human being?’ Sikhs seem to deny this, but not totally. In some cases, they say ‘Since God is unlimited and able to do whatever he wants, it is possible he could take human form,’ so there’s an openness there.  “As we have the Old and New Testaments, Sikhs have volumes of sacred Scripture (two books known as the Guru Granth Sahib and the Dasam Granth) which guide them in spiritual matters. They do not have the kind of hierarchical structure Catholics do, but appear to have some overseers.” Kuldeep Singh, a Toledo resident who is president of the national Sikh Youth Federation, also said the doctrine of the Trinity appears to be the major area of difference in the two faiths’ perception of God.  “Sikhs believe that God cannot be divided into more than one,” he said. “But as Catholics do, we too believe he is everywhere, in everything, without beginning or end, is merciful and forgiving, so we have all this in common.”    USCCB youth representative Neil Sloan said at the end of Saturday’s dinner that the weekend was a significant event for both faiths and would lay the groundwork for more dialogue. “It was a beautiful experience of God enriching both our faiths,” he said..."   And also these articles:  <a href="http://sikhswim.com/2007/10/09/world-sikh-council-participates-in-catholic-sikh-dialogue/" target="_blank">http://sikhswim.com/2007/10/09/world-sikh-council-participates-in-catholic-sikh-dialogue/</a> <a href="http://www.southasianobserver.com/southasiandiaspora_news.php?mid=31&cid=27" target="_blank">http://www.southasianobserver.com/southasiandiaspora_news.php?mid=31&cid=27</a>  "...A three-day Sikh-Catholic bilateral national interreligious retreat concluded on the note that it has shown them that the two religious traditions have many things in common and has led to a deepening appreciation of each other’s perspective..."  I too have come to this conclusion, some key similarities I have noted:  Some Similarities between Catholicism and Sikhism:   * Catholicism and Sikhism both teach that God is One * Catholicism and Sikhism teach that God is inexpressible and beyond understanding  * Catholicism and Sikhism both teach that God is everywhere and in everything, that creation is filled with his Presence and that "God is All" (Book of Sirach).  * And yet for Sikhs and Catholics, whilst creation is permeated with the presence and reality of God, he is in all things without being contained by them or limited to them, indeed he both indwells all created things and at the same time transcends them as their ultimate origin and Creator  * Because of this both religions teach that creation is good, the world is good, reality is good and that every place is a meeting point with God and provides us with an opportunity to be in his Presence.  * Catholicism and Sikhism both believe in the brotherhood of all human beings ie that all humanity is one  * Catholicism and Sikhism both believe in the equality of all human beings  * Catholicism and Sikhism both place great emphasis upon the Will of God. This emphasis on following the "Will of God", in Catholicism, as known to one through the dictates of conscience and one's faith to attain to a state of union with God (salvation) rather than "faith alone" as in Islam and Protestantism (where one must generally be a member of these respective religions to attain to "salvation", or go to paradise in Islam) is an important similarity  * Heaven and Hell are defined in both traditions as not being literal "places" but rather spiritual states that can be experuenced in the here and now. Pope Benedict XVI explained that "Heaven is not a place, it is wherever God's Will is done". In Catholicism heaven is within us, a state of mind and being that extends into eternity. Heaven and Hell are subjective human experiences of the Same Divine Reality - God.  * Catholicism and Sikhism both teach that all human beings have their origin in God and that he is our ultimate end. We will all return to Him. In Catholic tradition we all experience the Presence of God after death. As the Catholic declaration Nostra Aetate explains: "All men and women form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth (cf. Acts 17:26), and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all".  * The Ultimate state in both traditions is complete Union with and absorption into God. The Catholic mystics describe this, in the words of Saint Bernard as follows, "...There is a point of rapture where the human spirit forgets itself . . . and passes wholly into God. Such a process is to lose yourself, as it were, like one who has no existence, and to have no self-consciousness whatever, and to be emptied of yourself and almost annihilated. As a little drop of water, blended with a large quantity of wine, seems utterly to pass away from itself and assumes the flavour and colour of wine, and as iron when glowing with fire loses its original or proper form and becomes just like the fire; and as the air, drenched in the light of the sun, is so changed into the same shining brightness that it seems to be not so much the recipient of the brightness as the actual brightness itself: so all human sensibility in the saints must then, in some ineffable manner, melt and pass out of itself, and be lent into the Will of God...To experience this state is to be deified..." * Both traditions have strong moral teachings against abortion and euthanasia, since both uphold the sanctity of life.  * Both believe that salvation or union with GOD is "open to all" and not just Catholics/Sikhs. God enlightens all people.  * Both traditions believe that there is inspired truth, goodness and grace to be found in all world religions  * Both traditions believe in the underlying unity of all religions  * Sikhism believes that there is no separation between daily life and holiness. There is no division between the profane and sacred. The Adi Granth tells us that, "Spiritual liberation is attained in the midst of laughing, playing, dressing up and eating..." - Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji, p 522. Catholicism teaches the same. “There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it. Our ordinary everyday life can be a path to holiness...It is in the midst of the most material things of the earth that we must sanctify ourselves, serving God and all mankind...We cannot live a kind of double life: on the one hand, an interior life, a life of union with God; and on the other, a separate and distinct professional, social and family life. There is just one life, made of flesh and spirit. And it is this life which has to become, in both soul and body, holy and filled with God. Side by side with our colleagues, friends and relatives and sharing their interests, we can help them come closer [to God],” said St. Josemaría Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. Catholics believe that we sanctify God through our work and through the everyday of activities of life and NOT outside of this.   There are many other similarities but that will do for the moment.   Now onto some key differences:   Differences between Sikhism and Catholicism  * Catholic doctrine of Incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ  * Catholic doctrine of the Trinity - One God in Three Persons. No division in the Godhead, not three "parts" but each Person Wholly God and united by one, single, common, shared, Unkowable Essence.  In this dialogue it is important to remember that we should expect to find God both in each other and in our respective religious traditions, as the Catholic Bishops Conference of England Wales explain:   "...We must certainly enter dialogue prepared to be surprised and to change our minds, because in dialogue with people of other religions we must not be surprised, but actually expect to find God already there. It is in dialogue that we meet and are moved to collaborate with the same Holy Spirit we have received ourselves..."  <a href="http://www.cbcew.org.uk/page.aspx?pid=458" target="_blank">http://www.cbcew.org.uk/page.aspx?pid=458</a> (Interesingly enough their website has as its main image the photograph of the Pope facing a Sikh)  And it is my hope that through dialogue we can discover what Blessed Pope John Paul II described:   "...You speak of many religions. Instead I will attempt to show the common fundamental element and the common root of these religions...From the beginning, Christian Revelation has viewed the spiritual history of man as including, in some way, all religions, thereby demonstrating the unity of humankind with regard to the eternal and ultimate destiny of man. The Church sees the promotion of this unity as one of its duties..."  - Blessed Pope John Paul II</blockquote>

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