Geoffrey Robinson (bishop)

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.

At this point in the history of Catholic Social Services Australia we are at a 'kairos' moment, a time of challenge and risk but also of great hope and opportunity.

Bishop Robinson would be telling his old colleagues to face up to this moment with courage and confidence and in a spirit of dialogue and mutual trust.

[4] On 6 May 2008, however, 10 days before Robinson's scheduled public lecture at Temple University in Philadelphia—the first event in a month-long speaking tour in the United States and Canada—the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference issued a statement critical of aspects of Robinson's book, noting: We are deeply indebted to him for his years of effort to bring help and healing to those who have suffered sexual abuse and for what he has done to establish protocols of professional standards for Church personnel in this area.

He was invited to be the keynote speaker at the tenth annual VOTF Bridgeport conference on 24 March 2012 at Fairfield University, lecturing on "Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus".

The situation is so grave that we call for an Ecumenical Council to respond to the one question of doing everything possible to uproot such abuse from the Church and produce a better response to victims.

An essential part of this call is that the laity of the whole world should have a major voice in the Council (for it is our children who have been abused or put at risk), and that the following subjects be included: