… the scholar

Many thanks for Peter Feuerherd's balanced profile of Cardinal Francis George. I became acquainted with George before he became a bishop, while he was running Cardinal Bernard Law's Institute for Faith and Culture in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I was impressed by him as a gentleman and a scholar, as well as a dedicated religious.

When his term of office was up at the Institute, George was offered a job at Catholic University, but his provincial countermanded that assignment because he wanted George to lead a spiritual program for the laity at Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois. When I heard of this decision, I expressed my opinion to George in somewhat irascible terms. His response was: "Holy obedience, you know." Not too long after that he was appointed bishop of Yakima, and my soul was at peace again.

I am somewhat bemused by the cardinal's critics who are so confident in their interpretation of Vatican II's pastoral renewal programs. I have written two books and more than fifty articles in academic journals on Vatican II, and I still cannot claim to understand the council in all its dimensions. Yet, on the basis of twenty years of research, I am confident in the type of leadership exhibited by Cardinal George. People who criticize him do not appreciate his intellectual depth (John Paul II has the same problem).

JOHN F. KOBLER, CP

Chicago, Ill.

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