Paul Collins, new book, Recovering the ‘TRUE CHURCH’

Acknowledging Paul Collins and his writings on the Church over many decades.

From the back cover

“Paul Collins is a theologian with a special interest in the history of the Church. He knows well that, over the centuries, there have been various models of how to be church and it is this special insight that informs his commentary on the contemporary Australian Church. He understands that unless the Church addresses and reflects the real concerns of ordinary Australians – including patriarchy, the role of women, governance structures, ecology and climate change, gender issues – people will increasingly distance themselves from the Church.

He identifies the defects in the current model of Church – including clericalism, poor leadership, defective seminary formation, hierarchy. He counsels change and his criticism is both measured and informed. Above all, he offers hope that the Church in Australia will recover the Jesus tradition and witness to the gospel that is at the heart of its message and mission.

Recovering the 'True Church' is offered to all who care for the future of the Church in Australia, during the Plenary Council.

Andrew Hamilton SJ writes In Eureka Street

Recovering the ‘TRUE CHURCH’ will be an invaluable companion to those involved in the Pastoral Council. Not because it provides the right answers but because it raises large questions that could easily be shelved. The question with which it left me to me was how it would address  the great erosion in Church energy and allegiance made evident over the time of Covid. This has accelerated a process already at work in ageing communities. How will faith survive and discipleship thrive in the Catholic tradition without structures and institutions to nourish them and without people who are committed to stable communities as part of their expression of faith?