OZschwitz bishop defies US church on sex abuse

Subject: OZschwitz bishop defies US church on sex abuse Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:03 pm

AN AUSTRALIAN bishop has rejected demands by 12 leading Catholic bishops that he cancel a month-long tour of the US to promote his controversial book about sexual abuse by the clergy.

Following direction from the Vatican, the bishops have asked Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney, to avoid their dioceses because of his "problematic positions" on priestly celibacy and other issues.

In his book, Confronting Power And Sex In The Catholic Church: Reclaiming The Spirit Of Jesus, Bishop Robinson argues that the church's celibacy requirement has contributed to the sex abuse crisis. He openly criticises the papacy for failing to provide leadership, and wonders whether the church has been more concerned with managing the scandal than confronting it.

In a joint letter last month, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and nine other US bishops warned Bishop Robinson that his visit could be "a source of disunity and cause of confusion among the faithful of the particular churches we serve".

"I hereby deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles," Cardinal Mahony wrote to Bishop Robinson, citing a bishop's authority under canon law that was repeated in separate letters from the bishops of Orange County and San Francisco.

They noted an investigation of his book by Australian bishops found "doctrinal difficulties".

But Bishop Robinson, 70, said he had no intention of cancelling any part of a trip that began in Philadelphia on May 16 and brings him to California tomorrow.

"I'm not looking for any confrontation," he said. "I'm saying, 'Let's start from abuse and follow that where it leads. If we find that obligatory celibacy has contributed to abuse, we must put that on the table."

LNK
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