In our final episode of this series, we explore the Canadian Unitarian Council and how it serves Unitarian Universalism in Canada.

Our guests include:

• Robyn Newton and catharine strickland, UUs of the Salish Sea

• Anonymous leaders of QUUeer Connecting

• Liz James from Mirth and Dignity,  and 

• Reverend Wendy Luella Perkins, founder of Soulful Singing.

• Peter Scales at First Unitarian Church of Victoria 

• Jim Sannes and Ellen Papenburg from Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice (CUSJ)

• Reverend Danie Webber, CUC Youth and Young Adult programming staff 

• Camellia Jahanshahi,  Rising Together host 

• Z Brimacombe from Loving Justice group

• Brenagh Rappaport, host of Gathered Here

• Reverends Anne Barker and Linda Thompson, CUC’s Congregational Life Team

  Questions for further discussion:

  1. Reflect on your UU Expression(s). What are you doing that is so engaging that it gives you goosebumps? In what ways, if any, do you have your ladder up the wrong metaphorical building?

  2. How could UU membership work locally, regionally, and nationally if congregational involvement was no longer the only measure of engagement?

  3. What possibilities come to mind when you consider Rev. Danie Webber’s question, “What if we started shifting how we define a religious professional?”

  4. Ellen Papenburg said, “It [the state of UUism in Canada] is not without hope.” What gives you hope to continue during this period of change and transition?

  5. Thanks to the internet, UUism in Canada is not limited to borders, oceans, and any other form of geography. Wendy Luella’s Soulful Singing is an example of a Canadian UU expression reaching across the globe. What different types of goosebump ideas can you dream up for how we can use the internet to open new doors? 

  6. What if we rebranded ourselves to make multi-expressions and co-creating a celebrated part of UUism? How would that feel? 

  7. As Rev. Danie Webber said, “It is a practice to be Unitarian Universalist. You have to practice these principles. You have to engage and participate in discovering what your community will look like.” Having learned more about the state of UUism in Canada through this docuseries, how will you engage and participate in co-creating what your UU community will be like?

  8. Consider the writing “The Church of Our Imagination”. When you imagine different types of UU expressions, what images engage you so profoundly that they give you goosebumps?

     Notes and Research Links

     • ⁠About the Canadian Unitarian Council⁠ (Retrieved October 7, 2024)

     • ⁠CUC- Governance and Management⁠ (Retrieved October 7, 2024)

     ⁠The CUC Co-Lab Event⁠– November 1-3, 2024 (online event to engage all UUs)