For example, I would like to see the pope make use of modern communications technologies to foster wider consultation in the church, something that could be very easily done. The Vatican has the technology, but at the moment [it uses] it to control rather than to consult.

FP: Looking back, is there anything in the book you now question in light of the reactions you’ve received?

GR: Some people have suggested I should have left out one or two parts because of the controversy they can arouse, such as papal infallibility or homosexuality. But I put them both in because I believe it was more honest.

The surprising thing is that no one has yet said to me, ‘You are wrong on such and such a page for the following reasons.’ I thought that might come, but no one has made that kind of attack on the book. Instead, they’ve attempted simply to brush the book aside, or to brush the author aside. You don’t learn much from that sort of reaction. To tell you the truth, most of the reactions I’ve seen have told me more about the person making the comment than about the book itself.

FP: The Vatican called you on the carpet in 1996 for complaining that Rome was not showing leadership on the sexual abuse crisis. You resigned in July 2004. Between those two dates, can you pinpoint a moment when your attitude toward the church changed?

GR: It’s hard to select a particular moment. In a sense, I could say it was that moment in 1996, when those letters started arriving. I felt alone, trying to respond to abuse without the support which I believe was essential. There was the ongoing silence from Pope John Paul II.

FP: How did the Vatican react when you told them you planned to quit?

GR: The acceptance came back within a couple of weeks. It was far from complicated!

FP: Before you traveled to the United States to promote your book, 13 American bishops wrote asking you—in fact, ordering you—not to come to their dioceses. Were you surprised?

GR: I concluded that this had all been organized from Rome. I couldn’t otherwise have believed that so many letters would all arrive at the same time. It was disappointing, but I can’t really say it was unexpected. I wrote to each of them to say that I would meet with them if they so wished, but there was no contact at all.

FP: After your American swing, you wrote that you “came away with the clear conviction that the American church has some massive problems before it.” Can you explain what you meant?

GR: I sensed that the American church was more different from Australia than I ever anticipated. I met a significant number of people who seem to have lost all faith in their bishops over this issue of abuse, with all the legal cases and so on … I found it hard to find anyone who trusted a bishop.

FP: In the book, you call for revisions to fundamental doctrines such as original sin, and you even say that you would revise the Nicene Creed recited every Sunday at Mass. How do you respond to critics who say you can’t hold those views and still call yourself Catholic?

GR: Part of the thesis of the book is the danger of setting things in stone, becoming a victim of our own past. What I’ve said is that only an equal power, meaning an ecumenical council [a gathering of bishops from around the world], would have the authority to look at and change statements of an earlier council. I see that as healthy, that the same body can look at its earlier statements and consider changes. I’m not advocating changes in fundamental doctrines, but I do believe it’s dangerous when human words are put up in such a way that you can’t even look at them again. We’re talking about the divine, and all our expressions will always be inadequate. For the most part, this is a question of language, not beliefs.

FP: Where do you go from here? What are your future plans?

GR: I’m 71 and my health is good. I don’t exclude the possibility of writing another book, but right now I’m still heavily involved in the response to the book I have published. I’ll continue to write, to selectively accept speaking invitations, to keep asking questions.

Geoffrey Robinson is auxiliary bishop of Sydney. His book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church (Melbourne: John Garratt Publishing, 2007), was recently published in the United States.

Interview: John L. Allen Jr., senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and senior Vatican analyst for CNN.