In an interview given to the Fairfax press, Canberra’s retiring auxiliary Bishop Pat Power has said he is retiring to pursue the pastoral work that first drew him into the priesthood.''The thing I have a heart for is to draw the people who are disillusioned and alienated to become part of the family again,’’ he told religious writer Barney Zwartz.
Bishop Power called the sex abuse crisis the gravest faced by the church since the 16th century Protestant Reformation, needing not just a focus on abusers but a total systemic reform of church structures.
This had to be much more than ''tinkering around the edges'' and must address the authoritarian nature of the church, the participation of women, clergy celibacy and teaching on sexuality.
Bishop Power, 70, will step down on June 30.
He called sexual abuse ''a terrible stain on the church'', and said the Vatican habit of secrecy had provided conditions for sex abuse and many other forms of abuse to thrive.
He stressed it was essential for the Vatican leadership to be aware of the real issues touching the lives of the faithful.
''Sadly, I don't think they have a good grasp of that reality and when things are tough, as they are now, there can be a temptation to bunker down,” he said.