There have been times I have sat in front of the computer wondering what I was going to write about. At other times there have been so many topics available. This week it is the latter.

There was the excellent Cork and Fork event at Noreuil Park last Friday, the disgraceful behaviour of Senator Cory Bernardi, the death of the great man Eric Turner and a commentary on the many people who do so much for the community and other topics.

But as a Catholic I feel a duty to comment on what has come out of the proceedings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

I am not about to sink to beat my chest and plead mea culpa – because I have no reason to; it is not a question of me remaining silent while all this was happening around me. I was in complete ignorance.

I could come up with a lot of excuses for what has happened.

Many who were abused did not suffer that fate at the hands of priests but by trusted neighbours and family members;

That the percentage of Catholic priests who abused children was lower than the percentage of the male population who engaged in such evil behaviour;

Such behaviour was also happening in other denominations and institutions; and

The general response of the community overlooks all the wonderful things the Catholic Church does in the community.

But that would only plaster over the problem.

A few years ago I delivered a Lenten lecture at the Sacred Heart Church at North Albury.

Afterwards I was given a thank you gift: Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming The Spirit of Jesus, written by retired Bishop Geoffrey Robinson in 2007 – which understandably caused a stir in the upper echelons of the church.

He gave evidence to the Royal Commission when terminally ill. 

Robinson points out celibacy was not the only cause of the problem of child abuse – otherwise it could have been more readily addressed and fixed. He also pointed out the church was seen as doing the work of God on earth and as such was – and needed to be seen - as being all-powerful and that was reinforced by senior members of the church.

So problem priests were not dealt with in the way they should have been.

And another piece of the puzzle was the artificial environment in which young men were introduced to in the seminaries – deprived of family contact and the chance to gain emotional maturity.

Robinson retired in 2004. In 1994 he was elected by the Australian Bishops to the National Committee for Professional Standards, co-ordinating the response of the Catholic Church in Australia to revelations of sexual abuse and from 1997 to 2003 he was co-chairman of the committee.

Part of his conclusion to his book states: “When I see this open and honest discussion (in relation to how the attitudes and beliefs of the church have contributed either to the abuse itself or to the poor response by many authorities to that abuse) taking place, I will believe that the church is serious about confronting abuse.

“Until that happens, I cannot have this conviction.”

So has that happened, will it happen and will it continue to happen? If not, the church stands damned.