Catholics disowns bishop who condemned sexual abuse in the Church

THERE was bound to be trouble when retired Sydney bishop Geoffrey Robinson published Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church last August, because it told the Catholic Church things they just did not want to know.

So instead of dealing with the issues he raised in his book, it decided instead to disown him.

According to Catholic News, the Bishop believes that compulsory celibacy for priests and religious has contributed to sexual abuse, and must at least be on the table for discussion.

He says:

Some may speak all they wish of the benefits of celibacy for the church, but others will not stop asking, ‘How many abused children is celibacy worth’?

He believes that celibacy could contribute to unhealthy psychology, unhealthy ideas, and an unhealthy environment.

Within the Catholic Church, there is a constant insistence that on all important matters Catholics must look to the Pope for guidance and direction.

Those older values have for a thousand years included secrecy, the covering over of problems and the protection of the good name of the Church.

According to Worldwide Religious News, Australian bishops this week released a public statement suggesting that Bishop Robinson — as a bishop, a man chosen by the Pope to guard the teaching of Catholics — was wrong about the authority of Christ and the authority of the church to “teach the truth”.

The statement was the first official response to Bishop Robinson’s controversial book in which he said the church needed to reverse 2000 years of teaching on sex and power as part of radical reforms from the Pope down.

Bishop Robinson was a longtime member and chair of the Church’s professional standards committee, established by the Australian bishops to deal with the increasing wave of complaints of sexual abuse. He resigned two years ago, disillusioned by the Church’s handling of sexual abuse complaints.

Bishop Robinson, 71, who was abused as a child, headed the Australian church’s efforts to tackle clerical sexual abuse for a decade, until he retired in 2004 because he was so disillusioned.

The statement by 38 bishops commends Bishop Robinson’s contribution to the life of the church, his “years of effort to bring help and healing to those who have suffered sexual abuse”, and his work in establishing church protocols.

But, after correspondence and conversation with Bishop Robinson, “it is clear that doctrinal difficulties remain. Central to these is a questioning of the authority of the Catholic Church to teach the truth definitively”, the statement says.