Cross Way Center and Holy Cross Catholic Church
We are an ecumenical church formed of two parishes, one ELCA and one Roman Catholic. Lutheran Church of The Cross was founded in conjunction with, but independent of, Holy Cross Catholic Church. For 24 years we have been attempting to remove some of the barriers that have separated our two Churches for the past 500 years. We believe that the issues dividing us are far less significant than those which unite us.
Our neighbors at Holy Cross Catholic Church moved into their building in February 1983. On January 18, 1987, Church Unity Sunday, the two parishes joined in dedicating the ecumenical bell tower that physically connects the two facilities.
1987 Holy Cross / Lutheran Church of the Cross Covenant
We, the people of Holy Cross Catholic Church and Lutheran Church of the Cross, accept that God is our God and that we are God’s people. We are joined by the Cross which symbolizes the salvation won for us by Christ, and we commit ourselves to live as witnesses of God’s live and promises.
We have been brought together in a physical sense by the construction of sanctuaries on adjoining property. The common religious traditions and beliefs of the two churches provide a broad base of unity to celebrate the risen Lord Jesus Christ. The construction of the joint bell tower symbolizes our commitment to mutually proclaim the growing spirit of ecumenism between Lutherans and Roman Catholics and our continuous effort to promote the growth of understanding and fellowship among all Christians.
We acknowledge that in spite of differences that still exist, through Christ’s death and resurrection we are part of the same family of God. As Jesus said, “Whoever does what God wants him to do is my brother, my sister and my mother.” Mark 3:35
We promise to pray for each other, to become more knowledgeable about out common heritage and to promote joint service and witness to the community.
We now share a campus that consists of separate worship and administration centers joined together by our Cross Way Center. This area is our jointly owned and operated fellowship hall and education center. Cross Way Center endeavors to meet the fellowship and educational needs by providing over 10,000 square feet, including 17 classrooms to be utilized by both congregations and offers the members of both parishes the opportunity to come together as one community before and after services at each worship occasion.
Our facility is the first of its kind to be built in the United States of America and perhaps the first in North America. There exists in Canada a similar facility; however, it is uncertain which facility came into existence first. To our knowledge there is only one other comparable facility and that is in Europe.
The Architect's Expression
by Royce Yeater, Foss Associates
The Cross Way Center is our interfaith complex, designed as a campus-style assemblage of buildings to facilitate growth of components as programs and membership of each faith grow. Its elements are residential in scale to harmonize with the developing neighborhood, and draw upon forms indigenous to the agrarian origins of the Red River Valley.
Flexible starter churches for each denomination flank a common property line to enclose a common "ecumenical courtyard." The courtyard will be developed to facilitate common activities at appropriate occasions, and to serve as a functional heart of this ecumenical venture.
The common property line is subtly cleft into the face of the single bell tower which completes enclosure of the court, links the two churches and forms a common portal and arcade. The two elements of that campanile rise together, like prayerful hand, to hold aloft a common cross. The cross, the tower, and the ecumenical courtyard will be lit to provide constant witness to the ecumenical spirity resident of the Lutheran Church of the Cross and Holy Cross Catholic Parish.