INTRODUCTION 7.hose involved in the study of interchurch and interconfessional dialogues con tinually lament the difficulty of finding some sort of index to the ever-increasing wealth of material in this area. Frequently those working in one dialogue may be unaware of similar work in other dialogues, leading to duplication of effort. Sipce there is no official list of the dialogues, it is difficult even to know where one may find the texts, commentaries, and information about them. The pioneering effort in this field was Confessions in Dialogue, by Ehrenstrorn and Gassmann, published by the World Council of Churches in 1972 and revised in 1975, but this book did not have bibliographies of the dialogues summarized. In 1978 the Centro Pro Unione published A Workbook of Bibliographies For The Study of Interchurch Dialogues, by James F. Puglisi, S.A. This provisional work has been up dated three times by our staff in the spring issues of the bi-annual Bulletin of the Centro Pro Unione in 1979, '80 and in this issue, called A Continuing Bibliog raphy for the Study of Interchurch Dialogues (1981). In 1982 we expect to publish a more definitive edition, titled A Bibliography of Interchurch and Interconfession al Theological Dialogues, which will contain all of the references published to date with supplementary materials from sources we could not survey in the past. We will continue to publish annual supplements of new material in our spring Bulletin. '!'he First Forum on Bilateral Conversations, convened in 1978 by the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches at the request of the Secretar ies of the World Confessional Families, commended both Confessions in Dialogue and this bibliogra p hical project of the Centro Pro Unione "as continuing sources of information for participants in the bilateral conversations and for those who study their progress". The Centro Pro Unione works in close collaboration with the Com mission on Faith and Order in this project. Our list of dialogues is as comprehensive as possible, and includes some dia� logues for which we have found no bibliographical references for this issue. The official names of the dialogues are given where possible; otherwise a descriptive title is supplied. Dialogues whose official status is unclear are included when deemed of regional or international significance. We cover official interchurch and interconfessionaltheological dialogues: official implies that, where it applies, participants have a mandate from the gov erning bodies of their churches, usually on a specified spectrum of topics (exclud ing thus conferences or meetings by private individuals or institutions); theolog ical means that we do not cover dialogues primarily of a more practical sort, as various plans of church unions and conversations on "social" issues, although we are aware of the ambiguity of this distinction. Obviously, inclusion or exclusion of individual dialogues implies no judgement on their status or quality, and might arise only from the limitations of our resources; Bibliographical entries cover: information about the dialogues and their differ ent phases; texts -both definitive and preparatory -they issue; further theolog ical reflection concerned with the dialogues. Survey of periodicals has been limit ed generally to those of theological interest and to the principal confessional information bulletins. We have tried to standardize the system of abbreviations used by Ehrenstrom and Gassmann to meet the increasing complexity and diversity of the dialogues. Abbreviations of the names of countries in national. dialogues are according to the International Postal Union, and alphabetization follows accordingly. We have grouped international and regional dialogues together in the bibliography to make it easier to follow developments within the confessional family groupings. To facilitate the research, subdivisions have been introduced occasionally in some dialogues according to meeting, docwnent issued or other identifying phases of development. Our format has undergone gradual. changes as the work developed. Offsetting prepared cards reduces printing errors, and enables us to maintain a permanent file which can be readily updated in futut:e editions. Greek and Slavonic entries are transliterated according to standard systems. A translation is added to these and other entrie� which are not in the principal modern Western European languages (i.e., English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese). This Bulletin is distributed, free of charge, to about 1,600 ecumenical insti tutes, centers, publications and selected individuals in an effort to facilitate the study of the dialogues. We appreciate the suggestions, information, exchange publications and contributions sent to us. Charles Angell, S.A. Director. 2 -Bulletin/ Centro Pro Unione N9 19 / SPRING 81 Next >