Jun 13, 2008 11:55 pm US/Pacific
Controversial Bishop Speaks In San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / KCBS) ―
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Retired Auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
CBS
An Australian bishop with controversial ideas about the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal spoke in San Francisco Friday night, in defiance of the local Archbishop.
The Vatican had actually pressured the priest to cancel his American tour. But Retired Auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney thinks the Catholic Church needs to reconsider celibacy for priests.
Robinson spoke at the Lone Mountain Conference Center at the University of San Francisco campus.
The bishop is making international waves with his book "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church," in which he argues that forcing Catholic priests to remain celibate may contribute to abuse of young parishioners by clergy.
"This is the first time a bishop has written a book that dares to question some of the institutional problems in the church that have contributed to the crisis," argues Bob Rowden with Voice of the Faithful, the Catholic reform group that invited Robinson to America for a speaking tour.
However, San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, and other California bishops wrote to Robinson, denying him permission to speak here.
"It is in itself an outstanding example of Episcopal arrogance, which is one of the problems with the Church," argued Rowden.
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