AUSTRALIA
ABC Sydney
[with audio]
By Emma Crowe
Retired Sydney bishop Geoffrey Robinson is calling for a ‘Catholic Spring’.
Speaking to Hamish Macdonald on 702 Drive on the day of the launch of his new book*, Robinson joined former New South Wales Premier, Kristina Keneally in a frank and open discussion about the need for ordinary Catholics to help confront the Vatican on the issue of child sexual abuse.
Bishop Robinson, 75, believes that real change can only come from a groundswell movement of ordinary Catholics, working together to take their views to the top.
‘Some bishops are much better than others and some of them are dragging their feet, but they do not have the authority to change the things that I’m looking to change. Only the Pope or a council of the church would have the authority to do that’.
Kristina Keneally, well known as former Premier of New South Wales, is a committed Catholic. She believes that the response to allegations of abuse would have been very different had there been women and parents in the leadership of the church.
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