Christ among the Religions: The Catholic Tradition Kathleen McGarvey OLA 1 ‘Jesus said, I am the way; I am the Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father, except through me.’ (Jn 14:6) ‘'For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a human being, Christ Jesus, who offered himself as a ransom for all' (1 Tim 2:5-6); 'Only in him is there salvation; for of all the names in the world given to people, this is the only one by which we can be saved' (Acts 4:12). Introduction The topic given me to discuss today is Christ among the Religions. I take it when we say the Religions we are speaking of religions other than Christianity. It is to be presumed that we have no great difficulty in understanding Christ among Christianity, even though indeed it has often been commented that if Christ were to return in the flesh today he might or might not recognize himself in Christianity. However, such self- examination is a discussion for another day, too wide to look at in this paper. Hence, Christ among the Religions I understand as a study of Christ in Other Religions. I see two major reasons for looking at this topic, reasons which will serve to direct the layout of my presentation today. The first reason is theological. The second reason is practical. Firstly, the theological: Theology is faith seeking understanding and in this case it is primarily a matter of understanding my faith in Christ as unique and universal Saviour in the light of the existence and the evident value of other religions. If Christ is the unique and universal saviour, then we must ask is Christ present and active only in and through Christianity or also in other religions? God desires all people to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), and we believe there is one salvation (end) for all people and that God has only one Plan of salvation; so have these other religions a role in that Plan and if so where does Christ fit into it. If it is through Christ that the adherents of other religions are brought to fulfilment (saved), is this through or despite their religions? And so on, so many questions. I will first present what the Magisterium has said in relation to these issues. Then I will move on to the theological responses, first some insights from the Jesuits based on the Ignatian spirituality of discernment, and then the three major categories of theological responses which I will look at in the light of interreligious relations in Nigeria. 1 Sister of Our Lady of Apostles, Lecturer Good Shepherd Major Seminary Kaduna