Introduction

Abstract

There is a sense in many quarters that the ecumenical movement has become becalmed. A number of promising bilateral rapprochements has not yet resulted in the hoped-for unions. Enthusiasm can flag when great and honest effort is not visibly rewarded. But there must be two lessons in the failures, both of which are important for keeping up the spirits. The first is that mending the divisions of hundreds of years will take a great deal more time than anyone expected, though no one should really have expected anything else. The second is that these delays and setbacks are helping us to see what the problems really are.