If you grew up in a community where Lutherans and Roman Catho- lics rarely sat in the same pews, Mis- sion of the Atonement in Beaverton, Ore., might surprise you. This com- munity of Lutherans and Catholics worships together, but blesses one another at the end of the second service before going their separate ways for communion.
MARK YLEN
Lutherans, Catholics A
forget who’s who in rare ecumenical community
By Steve Lundeberg
ſter being something of a vagabond, worshiping at four different congregations, Roman Catholic- raised Marcia Anderson of Aloha, Ore., wanted to
“put down roots.” Beaverton, Ore., resident and fellow Roman Catholic
Bill Parry, meanwhile, sought a welcoming church that kept children involved. He found one, and also a place where “they really make you think about things.” As for Jon Erickson of Portland, Ore., a Lutheran
whose youngest son is gay, he was looking for “something smaller, more spiritual and more overtly supportive of sexual minorities.” Put all of that together, and add an atmosphere of
acceptance, service, education and cooperation, and you get the reason Nick Cannard of Tigard, Ore., joined the
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www.thelutheran.org
other three in making Mission of the Atonement (MoTA) the physical home base of his faith: love. “Of all the things Christ showed us, the greatest was
love,” said Cannard, a former member of St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church in Tigard. “Tis church body espouses that. If it doesn’t fit ‘love,’ we don’t do it.” MoTA, a couple miles west of the Portland city limits
in Beaverton, is arguably one-of-a-kind. As its website proclaims in the masthead, it’s a “community of Roman Catholics and Lutherans” (
www.motaspirit.org). Nearly 500 years aſter the start of the Protestant Ref-
ormation, MoTA’s two denominations expand on their focus on love with an eight-point belief platform:
• What unites us as Christians and children of one God is greater than the theological differences that separate us.
• We are called by Christ to be on this journey together. • We oſten learn the most by listening.
• We are called to attend to not just what Jesus died for, but what he lived for.
• Centuries of misunderstandings and violence can be
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