WASHINGTON—Just two days after the first Catholic nun opened the House of Representatives with a morning prayer, the House chaplain tapped a Hindu priest from Ohio to offer the prayer Sept. 14.
Venkatchalapathi Samuldrala was the first Hindu to offer the prayer, according to Daniel P. Couglin, the House’s first Roman Catholic chaplain.
On Sept. 12, Sister Catherine Moran, a Dominican sister from New Jersey, became the first nonordained woman to offer the opening prayer. Guest chaplains are recommended be members of Congress. Samuldrala was nominated by U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat. Brown said he requested the prayer by Samuldrala to coincide with the special joint session address by the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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