Geoff Robinson was born on 10 August 1937
in Richmond, the son of Alexander and Kathleen Robinson. He was educated at St
Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill and Marist Brothers, Hunters Hill. He studied at
St Columba’s College, Springwood and Urbaniana University, Rome (DCL), and was
ordained to the Priesthood on 21 December 1960. Fr Robinson served as an
assistant priest in the parishes of Croydon, Lindfield and Northbridge, and on
the staff of the Catholic Institute of Sydney as a lecturer in Canon Law from
1967-1983. He also served on the Archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal and was
secretary (1969-1976) and President (1976-1983) of the Canon Law Society. He
was Consecrated Titular Bishop of Rusuca and Auxiliary Bishop to Archbishop of
Sydney on 8 March 1984 at St Mary’s Cathedral. He published Marriage,
Divorce & Nullity: A Guide to the Annulment Process in the Catholic Church in
1984. He enjoys listening to classical music.
By
taking a proactive role in devising processes within the Church for the
prevention of sexual abuse, he has made an enormous contribution worldwide
towards raising the consciousness of Church leaders to their responsibilities
in this very difficult and sensitive area, and to developing appropriate and
compassionate pastoral responses to those who have been hurt. He is the
foundation chair of Encompass Australasia, a psychosexual programme established
in 1997 jointly by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the
Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes for Church personnel
who were guilty of offences against children or of adult boundary violations.
He has overseen the development of Encompass to provide specialist
psychological services for people in helping professions struggling with
psychological issues or wanting to enhance their ability to live life with
vitality.
As
chair of the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board, a position he has held
since 1986, Bishop Robinson has taken a vitally active interest in the ongoing
education of teachers in Catholic Schools, particularly in the field of Sacred
Scripture. Consciously setting out to promote among teachers a level of
Biblical literacy equal to their literacy in other areas of their lives, he
presented a series of lectures on St Mark’s Gospel. These were so well received
that he expanded on them and made them accessible to a wider audience through a
book called: A Change of Mind and Heart: The Good News According to Mark.
The book has been acclaimed for its fresh and imaginative approach to the study
of this Gospel. A later book, Travels in Sacred Places published in 1997
explores questions about religious experiences in our lives that are often
taken for granted, such as: What sort of God do we believe in? What sense are
we to make of good and evil? How do we respond to God in our day-to-day lives?
He
has served for many years as the Chairman of the Catholic Education Commission,
NSW and has worked extensively in the fields of Catholic Education, Ecumenism,
Canon Law and professional standards in ministry. He was instrumental in
organising the highly acclaimed Confirmation 2000 and Confirmation 2005 events.
In March 2004, the Australian Catholic University awarded him with an honorary
Doctor of the University in recognition of his work in the Towards Healing
process.
The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II,
accepted Bishop Robinson's retirement on 15 July 2004, due to ill-health