ABSTRACT
The dominant theology of the Roman Catholic Church during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century was inherited from the Middle Ages. The Malines Conversation's between Lord Halifax, M. Portal and Cardinal Mercier from 192125, though famous, achieved little. The Protestant ecumenical movement hardly touched French interests. It was Jesuit, mile Mersch's focus on the mystery of the church that inspired French ecumenism. The author says there was a brief respite from normative defensive stance of the Vatican under Pope Leo XIII. He not only recognised the distinction between the two powers of church and state, he even called for French Catholics to rally round the Republic. For the great French Dominicans, Chenu, Congar and Lig, there was much to fight for. In Lig's world catchse referred to all adult Christian learning and instruction, not just that through Sunday sermons. Lig's 10-year close involvement with the Scouts gave him the laboratory he needed to develop his pastoral theology.
