Memorial for Cardinal Lustiger in Abu Ghosh

The French delegation, composed of over 150 pilgrims, included Andre Vingt Trois, Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Pierre Ricard, Cardinal Archbishop of Bordeaux, Dr. Richard Prasqiuer, ex-President of the CRIF (the representative council of the Jewish institutions in France), bishops, priests, religious and lay people. Attending the ceremony were many of the Catholic Ordinaries, led by Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, representatives of the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs, a few rabbis led by Rabbi David Rosen, the outgoing mayor of Abu Ghosh, and other guests.

The gathering on the grounds of the Benedictine Abbey was to honor the memory of Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger (1926-2007), Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, whose engagement in the dialogue between Jews and Catholics is renown.

The memorial consists of a beautifully landscaped garden with running water, spotted with small ceramic plaques that contain quotations from the works of Cardinal Lustiger. The many speakers all underlined that the garden is meant not only to be a place to remember the late Cardinal but also to pray for peace in the Holy Land.