Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
discerning "the signs of the times" (Pope John XXIII, 1963)
Geoffrey James Robinson,
Auxiliary
Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Emeritus
Geoffrey James Robinson was born in 1937and ordained for the Archdiocese of Sydney in 1960. He earned advanced degrees in Philosophy, Theology and Canon Law, first in Australia and subsequently in Rome. From 1967 until 1983, after a few years as a parish priest, he taught canon law at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. In addition to serving as Chief Justice of the Archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal, he was secretary and then president of the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand. In 1984 he published a book on marriage, divorce, and annulment. A few years later he published books on the Gospel of Mark and religious experiences in our everyday lives. For many years he served as the Chairman of the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board and the Australian Catholic Education Commission, NSW. Finally, he worked extensively in the areas of ecumenism and professional standards in ministry. In 1984, he was named auxiliary bishop of Sydney, combining administrative work with his Tribunal and other duties. (See Archdiocese of Sydney website)
In May and June of 2008 Bishop Robinson visited the United States on an extensive lecture tour . Here are links to the final version of his lecture and his retrospective reflections on the tour and the Australian Bishops' statement asking him to cancel the tour.
He started the tour at Temple University (link to pictures and a video recording of the event). His 10 June 2008 lecture at U.C.S.D. is available on YouTube.
In November 2010 Bishop Robinson addressed the ACARP (Australian Clergy Abuse Reparation & Prevention) Conference on the "12 elements in Church Culture that contribute to clerical abuse."
In March 2012 Bishop Robinson visited the United States again. On March 8 he was interviewed by Ingrid Shafer. The interview is also available in the Australian Catholic reform site, Catholica, edited by Brian Coyne.
On March 15 he was a plenary speaker and retreat presenter for the Seventh National Symposium on Catholicism & Homosexuality (March 15-17, 2012, Baltimore, Maryland), organized by New Ways Ministry. He was the keynote speaker at the tenth annual VOTF Bridgeport conference on Saturday, March 24, 2012 at Fairfield University, lecturing on "Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus," and spoke in Chicago on March 28 on "Changing the Culture," a talk extensively reviewed/discussed in the National Catholic Reporter.
Selected recent publications:
Love’s Urgent Longings, Wrestling with belief in today’s church, John Garratt Publishing, Melbourne, 2010.
The Dark Night of the Catholic Church, Examining the child sexual abuse scandal, editors Brendan Geary and Joanne Marie Greer, Kevin Mayhew Publishing, London, 2011, chapter 14 by Geoffrey Robinson, Us and Them, p.297.
Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, A decade of crisis, 2002-2012, editors Thomas G. Plante and Kathleen L. McChesney, Praeger Publishers, Santa Barbara, California, 2011, chapter 7 by Geoffrey Robinson, Changing the Culture, p.91.