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Published: May 21, 2008

“Planning to come regardless”

Cardinal Mahony forbids dissident bishop to speak in the Los Angeles archdiocese

Saying he was working in accord with his brother bishops in Australia and Rome, Cardinal Roger Mahony on May 9 forbade a retired Australian bishop to address a group of lay Catholics in the Los Angeles archdiocese.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney, Australia, published a book last year that won the condemnation of the Australian bishops conference. In Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus, Robinson calls for a reexamination of Church teachings on extramarital sex, women’s ordination, homosexuality, and papal power in order to properly respond to sex abuse by clergy. Robinson for nine years headed the Australian bishops’ conference’s Committee for Professional Standards, which drew up policy to respond to sexual abuse victims.

Earlier this month, the Australian bishops issued a statement on Robinson’s book, saying it questions “the authority of the Church” – a questioning which is “connected to Bishop Robinson's uncertainty about the knowledge and authority of Christ himself.”

Robinson’s book, said the bishops, “casts doubt” on the belief that “the Church's Magisterium teaches the truth authoritatively in the name of Christ.” In so doing, the book “leads … 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,” said the Australian bishops’ statement.

In a May 15 response to the bishops, Robinson did not deny the particular allegations but said his book “is about the response to the revelations of sexual abuse within the church. Sexual abuse is all about power and sex, so it is surely reasonable to ask questions about power and sex in the church.” The bishops, said Robinson, have imposed “impossible restrictions on any serious and objective study, and it is where I have broken from the Bishops Conference. We must be free to follow the argument wherever it leads.”

Robinson is currently on an U.S. tour, which will bring him (among other locations) to San Diego on June 10 and to the Los Angeles archdiocese. The June 12 event featuring Robinson at Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino is being sponsored by Call to Action, Voice of the Faithful, and Dignity. The center is run by the Sisters of Social Service.

In a May 9 letter to Robinson, Cardinal Mahony said he was “once again” writing of the bishop’s upcoming speaking engagement. “Your letter informing me of your coming appearance made it clear that you were not seeking my permission or approval, that you were planning to come regardless,” said Mahony.

In light of the Australian bishops’ condemnation of Robinson’s book and the fact, as Mahony said he learned, that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, had asked Robinson to cancel his U.S. tour, Mahony forbade Robinson to speak in the L.A. archdiocese.

“Under the provisions of Canon 763 , I hereby deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles,” wrote Mahony to Robinson.

Canon 763 says “bishops have the right to preach the word of God everywhere, including in churches and oratories of religious institutes of pontifical right, unless the local bishop has expressly forbidden it in particular cases.”

Mahony urged Robinson to cancel his U.S. tour and follow the recommendations of the Australian bishops’ conference.

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