Robert C. Dodds was a United Church of Christ minister who served as the General Director of Planning, Associate Secretary, and Director of Ecumenical Affairs for the National Council of Churches. This collection contains reports, bulletins, articles and newspaper clippings, personal accounts, speeches, conference notes, strategic plans, correspondence, and other papers from Robert C. Dodds' participation in the National Council of Churches, the Fourth Session of the Second Vatican Council, and the ninth meeting of the Consultation on Church Union.
The second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church, convoked by Pope John XXIII and held from 1962-1965. It was preceded by Vatican I (1869-1870), which was the first council to be held since the closing of the Council of Trent in 1563. This collection contains two scrapbooks of New York Times clippings about Vatican II, and a collection of articles defending Catholic theologian Hans Küng.