Australian Archbishops and Bishops in Rome for an ad limina visit in November 1998 met with representatives of a number of Curial Dicasteries to have a discussion on the situation of the church in Australia.

The resultant document outlined a number of weaknesses identifiable in Australian Catholicism. The first weakness that is mentioned is a crisis in faith. The second weakness is a crisis in Christology. The two are clearly connected. The crisis in faith, which is not limited to Australia alone, is a spiritual crisis that causes people to lose a sense of the transcendent. It results in a reduction of faith to a consideration of the human perspective alone.

When speaking of Christology we have experienced in the years following the Vatican Council an emphasis in theological teaching and in catechesis upon the humanity of Christ. This focus upon the humanity of Christ is a valuable exercise that has freed Christology from the dangers of dry speculation. Christ is seen as a paradigm of true humanity. But the problem emerges that this can be at the expense of the eclipsing of his divinity. The Council spoke of Christ as "the firstborn of many brothers" through his resurrection. Emphasis is solely placed on the personal qualities exhibited in the life of Jesus. Catechesis, then, can simply be reduced to presenting a human Jesus who shows us how to live. Lacking in this approach is a sound soteriology and eschatology. The death of Christ on the cross is viewed as an expression of the greatness of Christ’s love, but not as an act of atonement. "Our most high calling" is lost sight of when we do not look beyond the plane of this world to our humanity in glory in the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

This is a challenge to priests in their preaching and catechesis. The Vatican Council Decree on the Life and Ministry of Priests spoke of the "primary duty" of priests of proclaiming the Gospel (PO par 4.). This call echoes the emphasis the Council gave to the importance of the Word of God in the life of the Church. This teaching was given fresh and vital stimulus in the landmark encyclical of Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, which spoke of evangelisation as "the grace and vocation proper to the church" (EN par 14). Pope John Paul has taken up this call in his constant references to a new evangelisation.

The call to engage in the "new evangelisation" raises the question as to what is the essential content of this preaching. Pope Paul VI put it decisively in these words: "a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all men, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy" (EN par.27). Central to the ministry of priests is a proclamation of the Gospel that has as its heart a proclamation of the full mystery of Jesus Christ in all its soteriological and eschalological aspects. This stands as a challenge before the church in Australia.