Vatican II and the World Council of Churches: A Vision for Receptive Ecumenism or a Clash of Paradigms?

The aim of this article is to examine the vision for unity proposed by the Second Vatican Council and the World Council of Churches respectively in order to contribute to a renewal of ecumenism. It begins by briefly outlining the contribution of Vatican II and of the World Council of Churches to the coveted goal of unity with particular reference to their respective elaborations of the psychology of ecumenism, at that movement's inception. The article considers how Yves Congar (1904-95) and Willem A. Visser 't Hooft (1900-85), two of the great pioneers of ecumenism in the twentieth century contributed jointly to its advancement. The penultimate part of the article considers the indispensable role of dialogue in the methodologies of ecumenism proposed by the principal protagonists both within their particular ecclesial milieux and beyond. An important objective is to assess whether the specific models for ecumenicity at the heart of the World Council of Churches and of the Second Vatican Council contribute to a symbiotic receptivity or to an inevitable clash of ever divergent paradigms, or both.