From 2011. Oregon Catholic Priest and Evangelical Minister: "Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, why does the Archdiocese of Portland belong to this?"

2016 VOCAL. We cannot be blind to the fact that all "Ecumenical and Inter-religious" activities are with progressive churches.  There is no connection with protestant churches that support family values and not same-sex relationships.  There are no Christian churches that are pro-life included in EMO. 

With Matt Cato, our Office of Life, Justice and Peace on the steering committee of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, which is our "outreach" to other churches,  what are we afraid of to include Oregon Family Council churches that are very confused about the Catholics in Oregon.

Below are letters, one from a Catholic priest and one from a prominent Protestant minister from a few years ago, but things have not changed. 
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Dear Father and Pastor... Thank you for giving me your observations of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.   You represent true ecumenism.  Maybe by your words Oregon Catholics will now understand the problem.......God Bless, VOCAL


 "To Whom it may concern, (from anonymous Oregon Catholic priest),

While it would be tough for me to weigh in on an internal Catholic issue, I can have a personal opinion overall.  The biggest problem I have is that if you believe what you claim to believe, why would you put time and energy into an Organization that actively works against that belief?  EMO, clearly and unequivocally, has the position that gays and lesbians are not engaged in unnatural sexual relations, essentially they hold homosexual behavior to be OK.

Last time I looked, the Catholic Church still, and rightly so under the bible, believe homosexual behavior to be unnatural and immoral.  While many of their programs for social justice are great, the Catholic Church doesn’t need to belong to advance those noble causes they do promote.

  It is one thing to love and tolerate all sinners, it is quite another to say their sin is ok and free of consequences.  By belonging to EMO the Catholic Church is compromising their own values, for what benefit?  Whatever benefits they believe come from membership can easily be obtained other ways without giving tacit approval to the homosexual lifestyle.

 I am all for having a loving and open dialogue with other Christians about our different interpretations of scripture, but why do I have to join their organization?  Of the five (5) largest denominations in Oregon (by number of members in the State), (Catholic, Mormon, Assemblies of God and Evangelical Lutheran and Foursquare), the Catholic Church is the only one who chooses to be a member.  In looking at the statistics, the EMO, absent the Catholic Church, represents a very small minority of Oregon Church goers, about 10%.  Here is the link to that info, 

  http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/state/41_2000.asp

Paul and Peter: Icon of True Ecumenism

 The bottom line is, they have an important belief that runs counter to Church doctrine; and without the Catholic Church, they really represent a very small number of Oregon church goers.  So why get involved?"

Thank you for this forum to speak. VOCAL.

True Ecumenism in Action: A leading Evangelical Ministry leader that works across denominational lines in both Oregon, Washington and nationally made these remarks regarding Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO)

"My observations about EMO are very, very bad. They represent everything the Evangelical Church disdains, are not true followers of the Scriptures, and use them only as a useful garment to cover their truly humanistic and misguided perception of 'truth.'

They misconstrue true Biblical Theology to serve their preconceived ideas about what is right and wind up twisting and interpreting the Scriptures to agree with their humanist religious views.

They represent only a small fraction of 'Churches' in Oregon and the Evangelical Church considers them 'apostate.' We do not agree in the least with their support of 'domestic partnerships' nor granting rights to any class of people based on their sexual behavior, which EMO clearly does. 

In fact, we are appalled that Catholic Leadership, after what they have gone through in Oregon and throughout the nation, is even willing to align themselves with any group that supports the homosexual agenda. It sends the signal to any and everyone that the Catholic Church leadership has still not walked away from this sordid relationship.

For the Catholic Church to align with the EMO and in support of homosexual behavior is to deny everything that the Catholic Church teaches, and to alienate many, many Catholics from Catholic Church leadership.

It is actually to be out of step with the Pope and the Vatican, and it castes a long shadow of distrust and alienation from the Evangelical Christian world in working together on other areas of mutual interest."  

From the Holy Father's Own Words.....


Pope Benedict XVI has declared his commitment to the Second Vatican Council's Ecumenism, but has stressed a hermeneutic of continuity in Catholic doctrine so that Ecumenism never really becomes a break from the bi-millennial Church tradition.

St Peter's Square on 7 June 2006