pathways, SEPTEMBER 2007
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's explosive new book is already in reprint.
The presses started to roll again within days of the official launch in Sydney on Sunday, August 26.
Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus had already enjoyed a largish print-run for a religious book in Australia.
But as well as walking off bookshelves in Catholic bookstores, healthy interest has been shown by secular book sellers. The publisher, John Garrett Publishing (Melbourne) has received inquiries from overseas and already it is likely that the book will be printed in the United Kingdom early in the new year.
Bishop Robinson ends the introduction by saying that he reached a point where he could not continue to be a Bishop of a church about which he had such "profound reservations".
"I resigned my office as Auxiliary Bishop in Sydney and began to write this book about the foundations of power and sex within the church.
"I believe that in this book I describe a better church, a church that is not contrary to the mind of Jesus Christ ... the case for reform must be most seriously considered ..."
He left unnamed the people who had helped him with the book: "It says much about the need for change that, in the atmosphere that prevails within the church, I would be creating difficulties if I gave their names."
Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus was launched by acclaimed Australian author and historian, Fr Edmund Campion, at a function hosted by the Aquinas Academy, in the Crypt, at St Patrick's Church, The Rocks.
In his response, Bishop Robinson said that he believed that the major division within the church was between the "proclaimers of certainties and the seekers after truth", with the proclaimers of certainties seeming to be in the favoured position.
"This has left many people feeling a sense of alienation, of being marginalized, of no longer quite belonging to the Church that had given them much of their sense of belonging, meaning and direction throughout their lives. This feeling has strengthened sense of needing to search for truth.
"In writing the book I became aware that I was writing a book for these people, that I was trying to tell them that there is a Church for them and that it is fully in accord with the mind of Jesus. I was telling them that there are basic certainties, but there is also abundant room for search, for taking personal responsibility and growing through that process to become all we are capable of being, all God wants us to be.
"I became aware that it was important for many people that there should be a bishop saying these things. At moments I felt that the needs of these many people were so great that it is perhaps true that I have never been more of a shepherd, I have never been more justified in carrying around a pastoral staff, than I have in this. If the book carries an important message to these people, then I shall be delighted."
He sees that the answer to the church's fracture will be found in dialogue and mutual respect.
"We must get away from the idea that the side with which I disagree must do all the changing and come to me, and see instead that both sides need to reach out. I hope that I have given some indications of the lines the dialogue might follow."
Bishop Robinson will give a mini-course based on his book, at the Aquinas Academy, Sydney, over three sessions. These "conversations" will be held on the Thursdays, September 27, October 4 and 11, from 10am-noon; level 5, 141 Harrington Street. The cost will be $48. Bookings (02 9247 4651 or Sandra@aquinas-academy.com) are recommended.
some links ...
A review of
Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus by the Principal of the Aquinas Academy Fr Michael Whelan SM is available on the
Aquinas Academy website.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge's
letter in the
Canberra Times
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