By Steve Weinstein
EDGE Boston
May 21, 2008
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=national&sc2=news&sc3=&id=74772
Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles will not allow a retired Australian bishop to speak. Geoffrey Robinson was criticized by his fellow Australian bishops for arguing that until the church re-examines its attitudes about gays, women priests and papal infallibility, it will never take the sex-abuse scandal seriously.
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| Cardinal Roger Mahoney heads the sprawling Los Angeles archdiocese. |
The cardinal was reacting to the retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney's planned sppech in his archdiocese. The open letter, citing canon law, stated in part, "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."
Robinson's tour is sponsored by Voices of the Faithful, a group seeking to change the church's closed-session mindset and open a dialogue with laypeople, according to a story in the Catholic News Agency.
In response to the cardinal, the group responded on its website: "In their statement, the bishops appear to be saying that, in seeking to respond to abuse, we may investigate all other factors contributing to abuse, but we may not ask questions concerning ways in which teachings, laws, and attitudes concerning power and sex within the church may have contributed.
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