Lost!: Australia's Catholics Today / Michael Gilchrist

Michael Gilchrist's latest book is a wake-up call for the Catholic Church in Australia. Statistics point to a serious and worsening crisis of faith. If this is not addressed very soon the Church will become little more than a small remnant within a few decades. After years of misgovernment and failed "renewal" policies, time is running out. Lost! provides documented evidence of the Church's seriously weakened condition while noting recent positive developments and offering some bold proposals for slowing or reversing the decline.

Since the Catholic Church is the largest and most cohesive in Australia and the only religious body capable of offering any significant counterweight to the present dominance of secularism and relativism, its health should concern all Australians ho believe religious values are vital for our culture's well-being. The 'signs of the times' today call for consolidation of a Catholic identity and sifting the wheat from the chaff. This will require particularly strong leadership.

Michael Gilchrist is the author of several books on the Catholic Church in Australia, including Rome of the Bush (1986) and Daniel Mannix: Wit and Wisdom. He has been the assistant editor and editor of the monthly religious journal AD2000 since 1989. Prior to that, he had a long career in secondary and tertiary Catholic education.

[Hardback, 2006, 200 pages]