Introduction: Towards an ecumenical structuring of the churches: an invitation to recognize the unity in process / Jose? Oscar Beozzo, Giuseppe Ruggieri -- The local church in the universal communion of the churches according to ancient canon law / Dimitri Salachas -- The priority of the preaching of the word of God, the liturgy and diaconia over doctrine / Hans-Joachim Schulz -- Patterns of koinonia in the first Christian centuries / Angelo Di Bernardino -- 'Hierarchy of truths'--and ecumenical praxis / Otto Hermann Pesch -- Towards an ecumenical interpretation of the Code of canon law of the Latin Catholic Church / Alphonse Borras -- Ecumenical openings in the Code of canons of the Eastern churches / Astrid Kaptijn -- Patterns of synodality today / Pierre Vallin -- The paradigm of Assisi / Faustino Teixera -- Ecumenical gestures in contemporary Catholicism / Albert Melloni -- The Petrine ministry as service of the 'pilgrim churches' / Giuseppe Alberigo -- Documentation: Reactions to Dominus Iesus in the German-speaking world / Christine van Wijnbergen.