Capital Unitarian Universalist Congregation

In his book “The Politics of Blindness – from Charity to Parity”, Graeme explains the reality of being a blind Canadian and solutions to promote people who are blind to full citizenship. Blind people should have R.E.A.L. meaning: R-respect, E-equal opportunity, A-assimilation and L-liberty .

Graeme was born in 1946, in Liverpool, England. Becoming blind at the age of 9 from glaucoma and unsuccessful surgery he attended residential schools for the blind and initially worked as a shorthand typist before going on to train as a physiotherapist. He moved to Canada in 1980 where he now lives with his wife, Christine and their three adult children. Graeme’s message has always been to promote blindness as just an inconvenience not a tragedy.

Music: 295, 121, 327

When someone we love is in emotional pain, we want to fix their hurt, to make it go away, so they don’t suffer. So we look for a solution, and among other things, we sympathize or we share stories of how we have suffered similarly.

There is another far more effective option. And what about people in our lives who might verbalize their disappointment regularly? Is there a way to support them that doesn’t leave us drained? Come listen to Michele outline how we might respond differently, providing the support we yearn to offer.

Music: 360, 134, 324

What does it mean to be a member of this congregation? This service includes a New Members’ Service.

We’ll kick off Canvass with “A Sermon on the Amount”.  Rita will speak on how giving benefits the giver as much as the receivers.  This talk is based on the work of Jamal & McKinnon as well as a sermon on giving, by Peter Friedrichs.

Our first and most challenging principle is; “The inherent worth and dignity of every person”. Is everyone inherently worthy?  Where is dignity lost? How can we follow our first Principle in difficult times?  The first in a series of seven homilies looking at our Unitarian Principles and Sources and our own spiritual practice.

Being different from others is something we all have in common. It can make us feel valued or isolated, truly whole or deeply divided. What does “us being different together” make possible?

Anna Isaacs is nearing a decade as a fervent UU and is rapidly approaching retirement from young adult status. She is a member of both First Unitarian Church of Victoria and the small lay-lead Capital Unitarian Universalist Congregation in downtown Victoria.

Sixty years ago, on this date in 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in the US. Victoria was among many Canadian cities which were struck by polio epidemics. Polio has been essentially eradicated. For many Unitarians, openness to science is a spiritual practice.

What does our Sunday service have in common with some of the first services after the reformation? How has our structure changed since then? Join Rosemary as she delves into the rich heritage that is our Living Tradition.

Gathered from 1866 by the second Catholic Bishop of Victoria, Charles Seghers, the Seghers Collections comprise some 4000 volumes, most of them ancient treating of theology, ecclesiastical history, and canon law. On permanent loan in UVic collections, they are beautiful books, which should have been the pride of a seminary library, they have no other readership than bibliographers now. Why do we collect, keep, and study book collections that no longer represent our communities? Hélène’s talk will explore the values, communitarian and spiritual of books and collections: an iconic book is an identity, a material book can be a piece of freedom.

Pursuing diversity, compassion, and equity in our congregations requires our willingness to be dead wrong about the world. This is a good thing, and I’ll talk about why.
Sam is a member of First Unitarian Church of Victoria and has two delightful children, Lucas and Mary Stefanie, and is pursuing a Master’s Degree at UVic.

Looking at some of the issues from a Unitarian point of view. The Social Justice Committee of First Unitarian Church of Victoria is involved in exploring some of the current concerns in preparation for the CUC study we hope we will all be doing next year. (There is a study resolution coming up this May at the CUC annual meeting in Montreal.) The presenters are Christine Johnston, Virginia Daniel, Dr. Ed Daniel and Dr. Adrian Fine.