Includes bibliographical references and index.

The matrix of dialogue in the church -- The life of the parish and the pastoral council -- Discerning the mission of the local church -- The bishop and the diocesan synod -- An overwhelming response to a U.S. bishops' invitation -- The call to action -- A new way of teaching with authority -- The pastoral letters of the U.S. Bishops' Conference -- Placating polarizations or making them productive? -- The Catholic Common Ground Initiative -- The church women want -- What women religious learned in chapters -- Collegiality and constraint -- The synod of bishops -- Differentiated consensus, imperfect communion -- Ecumenical dialogues -- Rethinking the oldest divisions in the interests of larger truths and lasting peace -- Interreligious dialogue -- Lessons and laments and the unfinished agenda of a dialogical church.