Retired Sydney Bishop Geoffrey Robinson says that Australia's bishops "did what they had to do" in sanctioning his latest book while Marist Fr Michael Whelan has called on the bishops to explain "what is doctrinally unsound" in the controversial publication. In an interview with Catholic News Service, Bishop Robinson also said that "a fight between me and the (U.S.) bishops is really something I'm not interested in."
Noting that he is not sure if any US bishop have read his 2007 book, "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus," Bishop Robinson said, "I've written about what I believe."
Commenting on the May 6 statement from the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference that expressed concern about doctrinal problems in the book, Bishop Robinson said the bishops "did what they felt they had to do and I have no problem with that."
Before he left Australia, Bishop Robinson sent a letter notifying several US bishops of his speaking engagements in their dioceses.
His May 16-June 12 tour was to include stops in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ontario, Ohio, Washington and California.
However at least 11 bishops, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, asked Bishop Robinson to cancel his tour.
Meanwhile, Marist Fr Michael Whelan, director of the Aquinas Academy in Sydney, Australia, responded to the bishops' criticisms saying: "We have a right to know precisely what is doctrinally unsound with what Bishop Robinson has written and why it is unsound.
"It is a serious book and it demands a serious response," Father Whelan added in his statement posted on the Aquinas Academy Web site May 19.
The "imprecision and vagueness" in the bishops' "bland and defensive" statement, Fr Whelan said, is a "sad and discouraging reflection on the leadership of the Catholic Church in Australia, likely to confirm those who are unlikely to read Bishop Robinson's book and alienate those who find it worth reading."
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