Ecumenical consciousness has not always been part of the Catholic experience. Frederick M. Bliss, S.M. traces how the concern for ecumenism came about_from uneasy tension to confidence in the true grace of catholicity. This new edition follows significant developments in dialogues with the Catholic Church up to 2006 and suggests likely trends of continuing change. It studies the forces that had an impact on the Second Vatican Council, forces that continue to steer the church into relationships with other Christian communities, other religions, and the world.

"Frederick M. Bliss's Catholic and Ecumenical is a welcome addition to the theological library....Its breadth of scope in treatment of Catholicism and other Christian traditions with which it relates serves a readership wider than most books on the ecumenical shelf." - The Catholic Historical Review, October 2008

"A professor of ecclesiology and ecumenism at St. Thomas University in Rome, Bliss has a superb command of his subject. He is also a master of summarizing complex history and material into concise, readable prose. He puts it all into historical context, so that any novice in the field can appreciate the revolutionary changes that have occurred in Catholicism since the mid-1960s." - Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Winter 2010