Dr. Raymond Bahr’s criticism (CR Letters, July 15) of a George Weigel column (CR July 1) was based in large measure upon a misreading of his position.
Weigel did not, as Bahr maintains, reference “mistakes of Vatican II,” but rather an erroneous interpretation of the Council that is often used to justify dissent by those who stubbornly self-identify as “Catholic.”
Dr. Bahr is correct – one will find Christ in service to the poor, but since Jesus defined the mission as “baptizing and teaching all (not some, but all) that I have commanded,” a truncated version of Catholicism (or “Catholic Lite” as Weigel calls it) can hardly be considered authentic.
If that view is divisive, as Bahr so labels it, I would suggest that his argument isn’t so much with Weigel, but with the Lord who also said, “One is either with me or against me.”