For Sarkozy: Duty, Bush, Jet Lag

THE NEW YORK TIMES ^ | August 10, 2007 | staff

[Cincinna]

Never mind the carbon footprint. Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s super-active president, will be crossing the Atlantic twice in the space of a day, to attend a funeral in Paris on Friday and still keep his Saturday lunch date with President Bush in Maine.

(SNIP)Mr. Sarkozy is to arrive in Paris on a French government jet early Friday morning, a presidential spokesman said Thursday, for the 10 a.m. funeral of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the retired archbishop of Paris who died Sunday at 80, at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. He will then turn around and head back to the United States, the spokesman said, and have a little time to stretch his legs before sitting down to lunch with Mr. Bush and his wife, Laura, in Kennebunkport on Saturday.

Mr. Sarkozy and his wife, Cécilia, are to arrive at the Bush family compound about 11 a.m. on Saturday, Mr. Sarkozy’s spokesman said, and will spend about an hour and a half with the Bushes.

[Cincinna]

Out of love and respect for the Catholic population of France, and for the late Archbishop of Paris, the tireless, dynamic Nicolas Sarkozy will jet across the Atlantic to officially represent the Government of France at the Funeral of Cardinal Lustiger at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris at 10 am (French time).

He will then hop back on a plane and fly back to New Hampshire, where he is vacationing with his family.

On Saturday morning, he, and his wife, Cecilia, will travel up the coast to visit with President and Mrs George W. Bush, and have lunch together at the Bush's summer residence on Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine.

[AmericanInTokyo]

No biggie.

I (and others) have done that across the Pacific twice. (1 day trip over and back, with business engagements on both ends).

[Cincinna]

HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL JEAN-MARIE LUSTIGER

More from KnoxNews.com:

KADDISH FOR A CARDINAL

Multifaith farewell for French cardinal

Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, a convert from Judaism who sought to bring the faiths closer during his extraordinary life, is carrying on the mission in death - with a funeral rich in symbolism that includes a Jewish prayer read by a Nazi death camp survivor.

Jews and Roman Catholics plan to join in front of the sculpted saints of the majestic Notre Dame Cathedral on Friday to hear the Jewish prayer, known as the Mourner's Kaddish, before the funeral Mass for the former archbishop of Paris.

"This was his wish, to share the remembrance this way," said Arno Lustiger, a cousin and 83-year-old Auschwitz survivor, who plans to read the prayer.

The late cardinal, whose mother died at Auschwitz, converted to Roman Catholicism as a teenager and rose to become a confidant of the late Pope John Paul II and was sometimes even touted as a possible papal successor. Lustiger died Sunday at age 80 in a Paris hospice.

The Mourner's Kaddish is among a series of prayers central to Jewish worship. The prayer praises God and the virtues of faith, but does not specifically mention funeral or burial traditions.

It is "highly unusual" to be read among mourners for a convert from Judaism, said Rabbi Joel Roth, an expert on Jewish law at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York.

"It's important to emphasize that it's not possible to be both Jewish and Catholic," he said. "That is what this could suggest to some people."

But Lustiger dedicated much of his life to trying to bridge the faiths and once called Christianity "the fruit of Judaism."

On Friday, a grandnephew, Gila, plans to read a psalm. Another relative, Jonas-Moses Lustiger, is bringing earth from Christian holy sites in and around Jerusalem to be sprinkled on the coffin.

Shortly after the Kaddish, Lustiger's successor as archbishop of Paris, Andre Vingt-Trois, will lead a funeral Mass inside the 12th century cathedral, one of the most famous symbols of French Catholicism.

Among those in attendance will be France's leading Jewish and Catholic figures, as well as President Nicolas Sarkozy, who interrupted a U.S. vacation. Sarkozy later plans to fly back to Maine for lunch the next day with President Bush.

Many of those attending the Mass are expected to also attend the Kaddish reading, the Paris archdiocese said.

"It's a beautiful symbol," Rosita Ferrer, a Parisian waiting to pay her respects at Notre Dame on Thursday. "He did so much for the reconciliation of religions. ... He is leaving us a beautiful gift for years to come."

Aaron Lustiger was born in 1926 in Paris to Polish immigrant parents who ran a hosiery shop. As an adolescent, he was sent to the town of Orleans, 80 miles south of the capital, to take refuge from the occupying Nazis. There, Lustiger converted to Catholicism at the age of 14, taking the name Jean-Marie.

He was ordained a priest in 1954, and served as chaplain to students at the Sorbonne University, reportedly zipping on a motorbike through the winding streets of the Left Bank student neighborhood.

Lustiger climbed up the church hierarchy before becoming archbishop of Paris, a post he held for 24 years before stepping down in 2005.

Lustiger remained a populist figure, creating a Christian radio station, Radio Notre Dame, in 1981 and expounding on issues from the August 2003 heat wave that killed thousands of people in France to the building of a united Europe. He also respected his Jewish heritage.

"For me, it was never for an instant a question of denying my Jewish identity. On the contrary," he said in "Le Choix de Dieu" (The Choice of God) published in 1987.

[GEC]

Too bad the Concorde is not still flying.

[Moonmad27]

And the Slimes just had to get that “carbon footprint” comment (I’m beginning to hate that term) in there first!

[Old Grumpy]

“And the Slimes just had to get that “carbon footprint” comment (I’m beginning to hate that term) in there first!”

Plus, the Slimes are no doubt ticked off that Sarkozy is friends with President Bush.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

I’m jealous as hell. I would LOVE to increase my carbon footprint just to piss off a liberal.

[Moonmad27]

Wonder how many times the “carbon footprint” is mentioned in articles on the foreign jaunts taken by Dem Congresscritters? Must watch for that - not expecting to find any, of course!

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

That’s a good point!

[SunkenCiv]

Nicolas Sarkozy, France's super-active president, will be crossing the Atlantic twice in the space of a day... early Friday morning, a presidential spokesman said Thursday, for the 10 a.m. funeral of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the retired archbishop of Paris who died Sunday at 80, at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. He will then turn around and head back to the United States, the spokesman said, and have a little time to stretch his legs before sitting down to lunch with Mr. Bush and his wife, Laura, in Kennebunkport on Saturday.

France's super-active president? What the... what happened to "right-wing president Sarkozy"? I've begun to lose confidence in the MSM. ;') Thanks Cincinna.

[Drew68]

Wonder how many times the “carbon footprint” is mentioned in articles on the foreign jaunts taken by Dem Congresscritters? Must watch for that - not expecting to find any, of course!

Those articles will glowingly describe how these congressman had their servants plant a few trees as "carbon offsets" and then wrote a check to Al Gore.

[Cincinna]

Sarko has been highly criticized by the Left for being everywhere, all the time. Very un-Presidential in their eyes. They accuse him of taking over all the functions of Government.

When they had a President who never went anywhere and ruled from the throne..i.e. Chirac, but more so Mitterand, they complained. Now they have a President who actually works hard...and they complain.

C’est bizarre!

[dervish]

Thanks SC.

Vacations in US... How the left must hate that.

[SunkenCiv]

yeah, they figure that Sarkozy should do what they do, and enjoy a cookout over a roaring fire that used to be a parked auto. ;’)