Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus. John Garratt Publishing, 2007. Available from Aquinas Academy 02 9247 4651.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson’s book was first published in August 2007 and, already reprinted in Australia, is being published in Ireland and the USA. It is essential reading for all concerned for ‘being the church’ in a world that rejects institutions which play power games and refuse to confront the issues.
‘Christendom’ gave special status to Christian bishops and ministers, from Constantine’s convenient conversion in 313AD until the Enlightenment, at end of the eighteenth century. It died the death of a thousand cuts in the twentieth century with the world wars, the holocaust, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the 150 plus wars since. And the epidemic of sexual abuse has led to lack of trust in religious institutions.
Bp Geoff Robinson urges us to imagine a way of being church that is more obviously rooted in the Gospels. Each chapter of the book ends with a meditation. ‘The most fundamental change of heart and mind required of us…is a constant return to the Great Tradition, the person and story of Jesus Christ, and the song that he sang.…We must always remember that this song has two special characteristics. The first is that we, too, sing it badly, but if we sing it to the best of our ability, people do not hear only our voices. Behind us and through us they hear a stronger and surer voice, the voice of Jesus. The second is that we always sing it better when we learn to sing it together…. Compared to this song there is little else that is of great importance.’