"Pope needs to tell bishops to report crime"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/pope-has-too-much-power-says-bishop/2007/08/24/1187462523655.html (snips)
The Sydney bishop who helped write the Catholic Church's sex abuse policy in Australia has urged a fundamental reshaping of the church's power structures, warning papal authority has gone too far and calling for a review of compulsory celibacy for priests and the church's teachings on sex....In the book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church, Bishop Robinson says papal authority has gone too far, local bishops have been marginalised and the faithful of the church rendered powerless....John Paul II had left the church to deal with "one of the ugliest stories to emerge from the Catholic Church" without appropriate levels of direction or guidance....Pope Benedict's failure to even consider a review of priestly celibacy was to "lose credibility even before the discussion has begun"....There was a need for the church to review its commitment to priestly celibacy and its "extreme" teachings on sexual ethics, in which the church treats as a sin sex before marriage between committed couples....And the attire of bishops and priests needed to be modernised - the bishop's mitre abandoned because of its "bad body language" and the priestly collar replaced in some circumstances with a distinctive tie....Priests and bishops should be appraised every five or six years, as was normal in every workplace, and parishes would get a say in the priests appointed....Specifically, Bishop Robinson has called for an elected parliament of bishops to be established, from which properly representative church leaders would elect future popes.

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I never cease to be amazed by the spinelessness of certain bishops and priests. If one of them saw someone being mugged in the street, would they have had to call the Pope to ask him whether or not to call the police? The blaming of the Pope for the past criminal molestations and cover ups that took place in dioceses is despicable. Thank God weak men like this bishop and others like him were not alive when the Church was being formed. They would have called St. Paul to ask him whether to wipe after taking a dump in the bathroom or not.

And when did the Church become a governmental bureaucracy or socialist entity, with “representatives” and “performance reviews?” Answer: when poorly formed bishops and priest open their mouths and expel bilge and utter ignorance. They forget that the structure of the Church and the election of the pope is not the result of “focus group” thinking. The Holy Spirit guides the Church and obviously Robinson does not have a hearing aid so that he could hear the Spirit.

The church reorganizes sexually and politically because there are too many spineless bishops and priests who cannot be lawful, faithful, walk, and chew gum at the same time? I think not. There is nothing wrong with discussion but there is everything wrong with insulting and ignoring the role of the Holy Spirit. At times like this I don’t mind the dwindling number of priests and bishops if the ones who remain are righteous, faithful and have spines. Sometimes a weedy plant has to be pruned back to its roots, even if the cost is having a paucity of offering the sacraments in some locations. I’d rather they were offered less sacraments and Masses and at greater distance than if there are revisionist priests and bishops that offer sacraments on a garbage can’s lid.