Geoffrey James Robinson
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Geoffrey James Robinson (born 1937) was ordained for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney in 1960. He earned advanced degrees in Philosophy, Theology and Canon Law, first in Australia and subsequently in Rome. From 1967 until 1983, after a few years as a parish priest, he taught Canon Law at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. In addition to serving as Chief Justice of the Archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal, he was secretary and then president of the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand.
For many years he served as the Chairman of the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board and the Australian Catholic Education Commission, NSW. Finally, he worked extensively in the areas of ecumenism and professional standards in ministry. In 1984, he was named auxiliary bishop of Sydney, combining administrative work with his Tribunal and other duties.[1]
According to Patrick Percival Power, Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, addressing Catholic Social Services of Australia in September 2007,
Bishop Robinson's newly published book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church is a brave exposition of what the author judges to be some of the root causes of abuse. He sees this crisis as an opportunity for the whole Church to ‘read the signs of the times' in thoroughly re-examining whole areas of its life which are in need of reform. He pleads for open and honest discussion, painful though it might be. Ultimately, he recognises that it is the truth which sets us free. In no area of Church life should we back away from the hard questions. At this point in the history of Catholic Social Services Australia we are at a ‘kairos' moment, a time of challenge and risk but also of great hope and opportunity. Bishop Robinson would be telling his old colleagues to face up to this moment with courage and confidence and in a spirit of dialogue and mutual trust. [1]
On the other hand, on May 6, 2008, ten days before Bishop Robinson's scheduled public lecture at Temple University in Philadelphia--the first event in a month-long speaking tour in the U.S. and Canada--the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference issued a statement critical of aspects of Bishop Robinson's book, noting:
We are deeply indebted to him for his years of effort to bring help and healing to those who have suffered sexual abuse and for what he has done to establish protocols of professional standards for Church personnel in this area. . . . The book’s questioning of the authority of the Church is connected to Bishop Robinson’s uncertainty about the knowledge and authority of Christ himself. Catholics believe that the Church, founded by Christ, is endowed by him with a teaching office which endures through time. This is why the Church’s Magisterium teaches the truth authoritatively in the name of Christ. The book casts doubt upon these teachings. This leads in turn to the questioning of Catholic teaching on, among other things, the nature of Tradition, the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, the infallibility of the Councils and the Pope, the authority of the Creeds, the nature of the ministerial priesthood and central elements of the Church’s moral teaching. [2]
[edit] Books
- Marriage, Divorce and Nullity - A Guide to the Annulment Process in the Catholic Church. Melbourne: Collins Dove, 1984
- A Change of Mind and Heart : the Good News According to Mark. Revesby, N.S.W.: Parish Ministry Publications, 1994.
- Travels in Sacred Places. North Blackburn, Vic.: HarperCollins Religious, 1997.
- Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus. Mulgrave, Vic.: John Garratt, 2007. (U.S. edition: foreword by Donald Cozzens. Collegeville, Minn. : Liturgical Press, 2008.)
