SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KCBS) - An Australian bishop with controversial ideas about the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal is scheduled to speak in San Francisco Friday night, in defiance of the local Archbishop.
The Vatican had actually pressured the priest to cancel his American tour. But, the bishop intends to speak out anyway.
The defiant bishop thinks the Catholic Church needs to reconsider celibacy for priests.
Retired Auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robison of Sydney 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.
Robinson is scheduled to speak at USF's Lone Mountain Conference Center Friday at 7:00 p.m.
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KCBS' Doug Sovern reports
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