Cardinal Donald Wuerl							July 14, 2011
Archbishop of Washington
5001 Eastern Avenue
Washington, DC 20017

Dear Cardinal Wuerl,

	Thank you for your letter of June 22, 2011 informing me that the Committee on Doctrine has decided to review and respond carefully to my Observations on the Committee’s March Statement on my book Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God. 
It is good to be informed of what is going on.

	Germane to the Committee’s review, another matter has come to my attention. In a letter dated May 24, 2011, Fr. Thomas Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap., Executive Director of the Committee on Doctrine, wrote to an individual who had communicated with the Committee about my book. A copy of this letter was passed on to me. In it, Fr. Weinandy in his own voice makes new, specific criticisms of my book that do not appear in the March Statement of the Committee on Doctrine. Once again, as in the Statement, these criticisms are inaccurate. Since this letter is written on the letterhead of the Committee on Doctrine, I am concerned that it may be taken to reflect the views of the Committee on Doctrine.

	In the spirit of the Committee’s invitation to respond to its Statement, I include here an Appendix that offers observations about this letter. I ask that this be attached to my Observations sent to the Committee on June 1st. 

	My continuing concern is that in reviewing and responding to my Observations, the Committee will bring up new criticisms as Fr. Weinandy does in this letter, and do so as before in a way that misrepresents the argument of the book. To prevent this from happening, I respectfully suggest that should there now be new criticisms made of my book, I be informed before they are issued for the sake of clarification.

	I am fully prepared to take responsibility for what I wrote and to correct it if can be shown to be against the teaching of the church. But as a scholar and I am not prepared to be held accountable for what I did not write and do not mean.

	New York and Washington are not far apart. I assure you explicitly of my willingness to meet face-to-face to clarify these matters, and in fact would like to do so, should you deem that helpful. With kind regards and best wishes,

Peace,

Dr. Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J.
Distinguished Professor of Theology

Cc. Committee on Doctrine 
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York
Joseph McShane, S.J., President of Fordham University
Jean Amore, C.S.J., President of Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood