Lakewood Public Library Screens "The Jewish Cardinal"

The Lakewood Public Library is proud to announce that it will be one of the free venues for the 2015 Cleveland Jewish Film Fest in October. To celebrate our selection, the Library will screen "The Jewish Cardinal" on Thursday, May 21 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium.

Directed by Ilan Duran Cohen, "The Jewish Cardinal" tells the amazing true story of Cardinal Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger. The son of Polish-Jewish immigrants (his parents were Ashkenazi Jews), Lustiger converted to Catholicism at the age of thirteen. He was ordained as a priest in 1954 and was appointed Archbishop of Paris in 1983. Despite his ordination as a Catholic priest, Lustiger maintained his Jewish cultural identity, considering himself a Jew throughout his life. His epitaph, which he wrote, reads, in part: “I was born Jewish. I received the name of my paternal grandfather, Aaron.
Having become Christian … I have remained Jewish as did the Apostles. I have as my patron saint[] Aaron the High Priest.. .” His dual identity earned him friends and enemies among Catholics and Jews. But when Carmelite nuns want to build a convent in the walls of Auschwitz, Lustiger may be forced to take a side.

Co-sponsored by Mandel Jewish Community Center, "The Jewish Cardinal" will be shown on Thursday, May 21 at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free and open to all. For more information, visit lakewoodpubliclibrary.org.