For immediate release:  MAY 13, 2008
Contact:
Sr. Christine Schenk Director
216-228-0869 x4 (w)   216-513-3647 (cell)
chris@futurechurch.org

Catholic Bishop To Speak on Misuse of Power, Need for Change
“…. there must be change on the two subjects of power and sex,”

On Thursday June 5, 2008 Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson will speak on his book: Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus.  The book’s forward was written by Cleveland’s  Fr. Donald Cozzens. 

The public lecture will be held at 7:00 P.M. at 3430 Rocky River Drive, Cleveland Ohio.  A free will offering will be taken.

Drawing on his own experience of trying to get the institutional church to address priest sexual abuse in Australia, Bishop Robinson methodically offers a critique of the church’s use and misuse of power, from the pope proclaiming infallibly, down to the preacher claiming a divine authority for every word spoken from the pulpit.

“Through the story of sexual abuse and the church’s response, I came to the unshakeable belief that within the Catholic Church there absolutely must be profound and enduring change. In particular, there must be change on the two subjects of power and sex,”  says Robinson in the introduction to the book.

Robinson, has degrees in philosophy, theology, and church law. In 1994 he was elected by the Australian Bishops to the National Committee for professional Standards, coordinating the response of the Catholic Church in Australia to revelations of sexual abuse, and from 1997 until 2003 he was cochairman of this committee. He served as an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Sydney from 1984 until his retirement in 2004.

Cleveland is one of ten stops on Bishop Robinson’s US tour.  He will be available for interviews from noon on Thursday, June 5 until Friday morning, June 6.  

FutureChurch, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is a U.S. coalition of 5,000 parish centered
Catholics striving to educate fellow Catholics about the seriousness of the priest shortage, the centrality of the Eucharist (the Mass), and the systemic inequality of women in the Catholic Church. FutureChurch makes presentations throughout the country, distributes educational and informational packets and recruits activists who call on Catholic leadership to open ordination to all baptized persons who are called to priestly ministry by God and the people of God

FutureChurch
17307 Madison Ave.  Lakewood, OH 44107   
216-228-0869 www.futurechurch.org