Keeping the Faith is an incredibly optimistic book. It is precisely the sort of book that is required for these difficult times. It's a clear-eyed assessment of the very major challenges faced not just by the Catholic Church in Australia, but which confront our entire society. But the central purpose of the book is not to provide a catalogue of ills. Crucially, Fr James provides a way forward for the Catholic Church. He charts a course for how the Church can continue to make the sort of contribution to Australian society that it has in the past and which has helped make this country the safe, secure, and prosperous country that it is.
-- John Roskam, The Institute of Public Affairs, Melbourne.
Keeping the Faith puts forward a basic theory ... that the church has become fearful of criticism and is no longer promoting the things it alleges it stands for. Father James makes the case that the adoption of many socialist ideas especially in the social justice framework is a poor attempt to be popular and has not delivered any increase in Mass attendance. My impression of such attempts are that they are amateurish because our Church leaders are not experts in this field, and many people are sick of "Lefty" solutions for aboriginals, refugees and climate change.
-- Jim Molan, AO DSC former Senior Officer in the Australian Army and Commander of the multi-national task force in Iraq in 2004