RNS
By Francis X. Rocca
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, a Jewish convert whose mother
died in the Auschwitz concentration camp before he rose to become the
Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris, died Sunday (August 6) at the age of
80.
The cause of death was an undisclosed illness for which he had been
hospitalized since April. According to the French newspaper Le Figaro,
Lustiger suffered from cancer.
Born to Polish Jews in Paris in 1926, Lustiger converted to Roman
Catholicism in 1940, while living with a Catholic family in the city of
Orleans, where his parents had sent him after the German invasion of
France. His mother died in Auschwitz in 1943.
After studying literature at the Sorbonne, Lustiger entered the
seminary and became a priest in 1954. For 15 years, he was dedicated to
the spiritual needs of university students, first at the Sorbonne and
then as head of a training school for university chaplains.
In 1969, Lustiger became pastor of a church in a wealthy Paris
neighborhood, the 16th Arrondissment. Pope John Paul II made him bishop
of Orleans in 1979, and promoted him to archbishop of Paris in 1981,
where he served until 2005. Lustiger was made a cardinal in 1983.
As archbishop, Lustiger was a prominent advocate for
Christian-Jewish relations, accompanying John Paul on a visit to
Jerusalem in 2000, and helping settle a dispute over a convent of
Carmelite nuns at Auschwitz. Jewish leaders protested the presence of
the convent there until, at the cardinal’s suggestion, John Paul ordered
it moved in 1993.
Lustiger always said that he considered himself to have remained a
Jew despite his conversion, though some Jewish leaders pointedly
disagreed.
The cardinal was also active in other areas of interfaith relations,
and accompanied John Paul on a 2001 trip to Damascus, Syria, which
included the first papal visit to a mosque.
Often mentioned as a possible successor to John Paul, Lustiger was a
luminary of French culture, elected in 1995 to the august Academie
Francaise.
In a telegram of condolence to the current archbishop of Paris, Pope
Benedict XVI commemorated a “pastor zealous in the search for God and
the proclamation of the Gospel to the world,” particularly noting
Lustiger’s work with students and his efforts to “promote ever more
fraternal relations between Christians and Jews.”
A funeral mass will take place Friday (August 10) at Paris’
Cathedral of Notre Dame.
Copyright 2007 Religion News Service
Beliefnet
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posted August 7, 2007 at 11:46 am
It’s a shame that the boy, suffering the loss of his parents, was made to convert and lose his religion as well. What a sorry legacy for his murdered parents who had no choice but to trust his care to others.
posted August 7, 2007 at 12:56 pm
No disrespect intended, but it’s quite confusing when “Jewish” refers to religion and to genealogy, and neither implies the other.
posted August 7, 2007 at 2:11 pm
First of all,I was apparently confused by the headline. I thought this was a “former cardinal” who had converted to judaism-that is what it said. I was surprised to read the article and see it was actually the opposite:a jew who had converted to catholicism. I think the headline was badly misworded and hope that the editors at Beliefnet will be more careful about this in the future! It could cause much confusion and misinformation.
Secondly,I am at odds with another comment made here. Why does that person ASSUME that this man,as a boy, was forced to convert to catholicism? How do we know if he may have done so of his own free will,perhaps later in life? Also: why do many ASSUME that it is better for one to accept and stay with the religion of one’s parents? I think that such a decision is a deeply personal and individual matter,and that GOD has given us free will to choose in this matter;we owe no allegiance in this regard to parents,family tradition,national heritage,societal expectations,etc.WE DO however,have an obligation to ourselves(and GOD) to do what we feel and/or think to be right,regardless of these other outside influences. We may choose to go along with parents or tradition,but it should be OUR choice-not something done because it is “expected” of us(nor should it be forced on us)!
posted August 7, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Everything that I’ve ever heard about Cardinal Lustiger impressed me with his thoughtfulness and compassion. If he were indeed “made to convert” as a child (no doubt to save his life), I’m fairly certain that as an adult he could have chosen differently had he wanted to. I see nothing sorry about his legacy. In fact, he seems to have been a good human being.
posted August 7, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I agree with Ernie, I don’t think we should necessarily assume he was “made” to convert—I mean, at the very least, he probably wasn’t “made” to join the priesthood and become a cardinal, so he must have found Catholicism pretty good once he got there. May he rest in peace.
God bless.
posted August 7, 2007 at 4:19 pm
No one converted to save their lives. The Nazis were the first movement that said baptism could never wash away the “dirt” of Jewishness.
He was a young boy, hidden away, his family gone, surrounded by complete and absolute death. How easy it would be to influnce him to give up his faith.
posted August 7, 2007 at 5:35 pm
He was apparently 14 when he converted. What year did the Germans invade France? I don’t think he had to give up his faith, he just increased his faith!
posted August 7, 2007 at 9:20 pm
“He was apparently 14 when he converted. What year did the Germans invade France? I don’t think he had to give up his faith, he just increased his faith!”
Wow, you are saying RC’s have more faith than Jews, and I suppose you think that’s a good thing. In some sense you may be right about the first part; practicing Jews believe, I understand, much of what’s in the OT and perhaps some more. RC’s believe all that and the stuff in the NT. Since there’s not a scintilla of evidence for any of it, RC’s do believe in more nonsense than Judaists (anyone use that word?). But to believe in more nonsense rather than less is not a good thing!
posted August 9, 2007 at 2:46 pm
His parents probably saved his life sending him away after the invasion of France by the Germans. We have no way of knowing if he was “made” to convert or not. If one is a religious person, what difference does it make what religion he/she is? If he wasn’t happy in the Catholic church, he could have gone back to his religion of birth.
posted August 10, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger’s funeral had both Jewish and Catholic components. This was appropriate, IMO.