PLANS to build a Carmelite convent on the site of the Auschwitz camp in Poland have been cancelled. At the urging of Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia and Rabbi Marc Tannenbaum of the American Jewish Committee and many other interested groups, Cardinal Franciszek Macharski of Krakow has agreed to halt the plans. (Catholic Herald, May 2)
The cardinal will also act as sponsor for a conference in Poland on the "meaning of Auschwitz to the Jewish people, Polish people, and to humankind".
Rabbi Tannenbaum had earlier stressed that for him the problem was not created by the Carmelites but by a small group of Belgian Catholics who referred to the new convent as "a witness to the victorious power of the cross of Jesus and a spiritual fortress and guarantee of the conversion of our strayed brothers".