In cooperation with Bishop Geoffrey Robinson and his publisher, John Garratt Publishing, we have pleasure in presenting the end chapter meditations from his book which has created so much interest around the world. Today the reflection comes from Chapter Six.

"In Service of God's People"

For two thousand years Christian people have attempted, in myriad different ways, to learn from the bible and the world around them, and use their reason, feelings and spiritual insight to apply these sources to their lives. Their attempts have created another story of another journey, with the good and the bad once again side by side, with steps forwards, backwards and sideways, with bitter divisions and attempts at reconciliation. We can learn much from the best of this story, but we must also learn the lessons of its many mistakes.

Muddy human fingers have always stained the beauty of the divine, so that there is no perfect church, and there never will be. Any Christian church is daily and permanently in need of reform. It must never forget the lessons of its own history.

While paying lip service to the idea of the constant need for reform, it is all too easy for a church to come to believe that in all important matters it has things in their proper place. Such thinking is always dangerous.

There will always be the need for a constant and untiring effort to reclaim the spirit of Jesus.

Credit: These meditations are taken from the end of chapter reflections in Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church — Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus, published by John Garratt Publishing. We thank Bishop Robinson and John Garratt Publishing for permission to reproduce these meditations on Catholica Australia.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson who has degrees in Philosophy, Theology and Church Law, was Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Sydney from 1984 until his retirement in 2004. 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 co-chairman of this committee..

We welcome your thoughts in response to Bishop Robinson's reflection in our forum.

©2007 Geoffrey Robinson

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