New York, NY – The sister of the late Archbishop of New York Cardinal John O’Connor says that a family genealogical search has revealed that their mother was born Jewish and that she is not sure whether or not her brother ever knew.
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CNY.com (http://bit.ly/1lDH31l) reports that during a recent interview, Mary O’Connor Ward said that the research shows that her mother converted from Judaism before she ever met their father, Thomas O’Connor, and that her mother never revealed the information while she was alive.
Mrs. Ward said she had suspicions that her mother was a convert while growing up, but is unsure about whether or not her late brother Cardinal O’Connor shared her hunches.
“I have no way of knowing that,” Mrs. Ward said. “I just don’t understand, if he knew, why something wouldn’t have come up before. He was so close to the Jewish community.”
As to what she thinks her brother’s reaction might have been, Mrs. Ward said that since her brother often spoke of the Jewish people as “our elder brothers” in faith, she believes her late brother would have reacted favorably.
“I think he would have been very proud of it,” said Mrs. Ward. “I don’t think you can be a Catholic and not feel that connection.”
Cardinal O’Conner only wanted to be a good priest and he was. The revelation that he was in fact Jewish just ties it all in.
Jean-Marie Aaron Lustiger was also a Cardinal born to a Jewish mother. And of course the man they pray to was born of a Jewish mother.
Rav Moshe has a teshuva about a woman who was muchzak as a goy and all of a sudden claimed her mother was a meshumad. Most of the teshuva deals with the fact that she has no ne’emonus to say her mother was a yid. At the end he then mentions that even if it were true, she might require geirus anyway, based on a tosfos in (I believe) yevamos.
Cardinal O’Connor was a wonderful priest and cleric. Now I know why.
Not to belittle in any way the seriousness of this discovery and all that it may clarify in retrospect, but at least the Cardinal had the zechus all these years of covering his head with a yarmulka. Wonder if the current Pope may not be found to be descended from marranos or anusim? He also evinces considerable closeness to haAm haNivchar. Just recently learned that “S. Theresa” of Avila was descended from Jews. “The Mezuza in the Madonna’s Foot” is a terrific book about what our ancestors went through in Spain and the surprising effects to this day on individuals & communities of “crypto-Jews” in the Americas. Popes doing teshuva at the Kotel? Moshiach’s tzeiten! Just do not give away anything, such as Yerushalayim sovereignty or the King David’s tomb!
This is wonderful news. Certainly it goes a long way to understanding his “mench-ness.” I have every confidence that the current big macher in Rome also comes from strong Yidden stock.
A revelation such as this should evoke feelings of pain in the heart of any Jew. We should lament the loss of Jews — past and present — who were either converted under duress or did so voluntarily. To embrace a faith that was in the forefront of destroying Jewish lives only compounds the tragedy.
No wonder the kippah looked so natural on him.
Just to follow up to my previous response to comments 5 and 6: throughout our history some of the worst Jew haters came from “strong Yidden stock.” Read some history. Many Jews who became Catholics in the Middle Ages spread slanders about Jewish beliefs and the Talmud, leading to book-burnings and pogroms. Eisav came from “strong Yidden stock.” When did we take the teachings of the Chumash and the Mishna and the Rishonim that stressed the dignity and worth of all human beings and the reality of free will and the ability of all people to live Gody lives and twist that beautiful Torah into a system of bloodline superiority and an almost infantile belief that the Master of the Universe cares only about las than one percent of His creations and the other 99,99 percent exist as stage props to the main show? Show me anywhere in Tanach where Moshe Or Yehoshua or Dovid HaMelech speak this way.
The cardinals mother that converted to Christianity ,and her son became a cardinal…Would you say “she shepped nachas” or what do you say ..Well at least he wore a Yarmulka
I was in Paris at the time of the funeral of Cardinal Lustiger. I was unable to attend but it was a wonderful ceremony with Jewish elements held right outside the cathedral, and the Catholic elements inside.