Ed Koch reflects on the Pope's visit to the Park East Synagogue. I hadn't heard this story before:
My special relationship with Cardinal O' Connor is well known in this city. I treasured his friendship and loved him as a brother. His funeral Mass Card bearing his picture has remained on my desk since his death, almost eight years ago. I believe that he saved my life. During the corruption crisis I was contemplating suicide and his telephone call one Sunday morning to tell me not to despair, that he knew I was in a state of depression and that he wanted me to know that, as he put it, "Everybody knows you are an honest man," and not involved with those who had engaged in corruption. When I thanked him and told him how important his call was to me, he said, "No, not at all important," and I replied, "Oh, yes, it is, Your Eminence, the Lubavitcher Rebbe did not call me, you did."
Liked this, too, he gets it:
I was asked by a reporter how I felt about the Pope's approving a prayer asking for the conversion of the Jewish people to Catholicism. The reporter said that many Jews were upset with the prayer. I said I was not and considered the Catholic desire that we join them in conversion as a compliment. "They love us and they want us even closer" were my words. I also said, "I hope they convert to Judaism. Then, instead of there being only 13 million Jews worldwide, there would be 1 billion 13 million Jews, and that would be very comforting."
