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Lustiger was born in Paris, named Aaron Lustiger, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants. He converted to Catholicism at age 13 and was baptized. He was ordained a priest in 1954. He always said that he remained a Jew after his conversion, as described in this New York Times obituary article.
Here is what jarred me from the New York Times story on Lustiger:
Cardinal Lustiger appeared to have undergone a spiritual crisis in the late 1970s, when he considered leaving France for Israel. “I had started to learn Hebrew, by myself, with cassettes,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 1981. “Does that seem absurd, making your aliyah?” he said, referring to a Jew’s return to Israel. “I thought then that I had finished what I had to do here, that I was at a crossroads.”
Then, in a surprise appointment, he was made bishop of Orléans, the city where he had been baptized. There, he called attention to the plight of immigrant workers in the region.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/europe/06lustiger.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 The event which stopped Cardinal Lustiger from making aliyah was his appointment as a bishop? I have heard a talk on Lustiger which was presented by a rabbi, who described this turn of events as a sad story of a man who had betrayed his Jewish faith, and who later regretted that betrayal and was about to redeem himself and move to Israel. Lustiger was on the verge of returning to Judaism, is the idea, and the only thing that prevented it was this clerical promotion. I have to study these facts further, but I don't see the Lustiger story that way. And I don't see Lustiger's move in the direction of Judaism as a move away from Jesus. Lustiger understood that he was blessed to be born as one of God's chosen people, and during this spiritual crisis when he thought of making aliyah, he may have been closer to the Lord than at any time of his life. When I visited Israel I spoke to a Jewish believer in Jesus who had made aliyah, and who was very happy living in Israel. She respected her fellow Jews and did not go around trying to make them Christians.
Cardinal Lustiger was a voice against those who in our time continue to see a conflict between Jesus and Judaism. He saw himself as a Jewish believer in Jesus, like the Jews who were the first disciples. Some in the Jewish community were able to come to terms with Lustiger. They recognized that Lustiger was a strong supporter of the state of Israel. See this article from this Haaretz obituary:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/cardinal-lustiger-jew-who-converted-to-catholicism-dies-aged-80-1.226910
Lustiger worked with the World Jewish Congress, to form the Yahad In Unum association, which promotes Jewish-Catholic cooperation and social relief programs.
One of the best examples of Lustiger's support for Jews was his role in the famous dispute over a convent that had been installed near Auschwitz:
He had earlier been involved in the dispute over a convent of Carmelite nuns that had been installed in 1984 near the Auschwitz concentration camp. Many in the Polish church believed that a convent at Auschwitz was justified because Poles had died there. But many Jewish leaders were outraged, saying that 9 of every 10 camp inmates had been Jews.
Roman Catholic prelates, including Cardinal Lustiger, and representatives of Jewish organizations worked out an agreement to move the convent, but the plan was thrown into doubt in 1989 when Cardinal Jozef Glemp of Poland ruled out a move. Cardinal Lustiger pressed John Paul to intervene, and in 1993 the pope ordered the Carmelites to move, resolving the crisis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/europe/06lustiger.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The funeral for Cardinal Lustiger began at Notre Dame Cathedral with the chanting of Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.
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