Weddings
Rites of Passage include Weddings, Funerals and Memorial Services, Child Dedications and Namings, Life Transitions and more.
Rites of Passage and UU Lay Chaplaincy
WHY?Unitarians believe that every person has a right to personally meaningful Rites of Passage. To enact this belief, Canadian Unitarians developed a Lay Chaplaincy program in 1971.
WHO? Lay Chaplains are chosen and overseen by their congregation, confirmed by the Canadian Unitarian Council and legally licensed by the province.
WHAT? Lay Chaplains perform rites of passage. These are ceremonies that mark significant transitions in a person's life and may be secular, spiritual or religious. We make these services available to our members and to the larger community.
Outside of our congregations we have traditionally been known for providing weddings for mixed faith couples. This we still do, with sensitivity to the couple and to the family's faith traditions. We have for decades provided services of union for same sex couples. Today, after being part of the lobbying effort that led to equal marriage we are pleased to offer legal equal marriage .
We celebrate life at child dedications and namings and at funeral and
memorial services. Other rites include:
- coming of age
- coming out
- becoming a parent
- becoming an elder
- home blessings
We also remain open to creating with you, celebrations of what is meaningful
to you. There are no requirements to visit or join our faith only that
we are faithful to our own principles and sources, which you can read
later in the text.
HOW?
You may contact the CUC
or at 1-888-568-5723 or the Huronia Unitarian Fellowship 1-705-835-6605.
Donna is pleased to receive calls directly at 705-720-2908 or
.
Financial charges are made to non-members as set by our congregations but limited financial means should never be an impediment, so we ask you to discuss the issue frankly with the chaplain involved.
While we do not provide counselling we can help you to connect to services
in your community.