Sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has been nothing short of an epidemic of catastrophic proportions. The devastation of victims, the ruination of priests and religious, the damage of a major world religion and its faithful are horrendous and incalculable. In the current social environment-that includes the Royal Commission into Institutionalised Sexual Abuse of Children-this is the book that had to happen. This is the book, written by an 'insider', designed to move the Church back into the hands of the millions of shocked and bewildered Catholics throughout the world who are saying: enough is enough.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson states that there are three major tasks to be performed in eradicating sexual abuse from the Church: identifying and removing all offenders; reaching out to, and assisting, all victims/survivors; and identifying and overcoming the causes of both abuse and the poor response of the Church's hierarchy.
Bishop Robinson has been involved in the first two of these three fields for eighteen years, and he firmly believes there is a crying need to address the third element-preventing abuse from happening in the first place-and in so doing, ending systemic sexual abuse in the Catholic Church... for good!
This 'pull no punches' book sets out a clear action plan for the Catholic Church to adopt if it is sincere in wanting to eradicate sexual abuse. It is a call to a new Pope to seize the opportunity of his appointment to not only sweep the Church clean of abuse, but to put His house in order for all time. Bishop Robinson calls for nothing less than a Council of the whole Church, inclusive of the laity, to confront the issues raised in the book.