Our Lay Chaplains |
Currently serving the congregation are:
Lay Chaplain Dr. Jack Wright Lay Chaplain Caroline Elson
|
|
| While First Unitarian Congregation has professional ministers, we also have several lay chaplains
licensed by the Province to solemnize marriages. They also perform child naming/parent dedication services and memorial services. When there is a vacancy, our Board mounts a search for a new lay chaplain, often interviewing as many as ten candidates from whom the selected candidate is called by the Board to the office of Lay Chaplain. The covenant is renewed yearly by the Board and the congregation. Once selected, our chaplains are nominated by the Board to the Canadian Unitarian Council for sponsorship to become licensed by the Province to perform weddings. |
|
|
Lay chaplains go through an intensive training program including regular meetings with the ministers, observing many of each of the types of services they are expected to be available to perform, including the preparatory meetings with families, and training by the Canadian Unitarian Council through the Ministry and Lay Chaplaincy Committee. Unitarian Lay Chaplains across Canada have an organization which also provides workshops. While terms of office are set by the Canadian Unitarian Council: up to two three year terms. The appointment must also be renewed yearly by the Canadian Unitarian Council. Our ministers supervise the lay chaplains. Lay chaplaincy is an opportunity to grow spiritually within a ministry of helping people at important times in their lives, creating services of meaning which reflect the individual backgrounds of the families involved. It is also an opportunity to be involved in the community outreach of the congregation. We often perform weddings, child naming/parent dedication services, and memorial services for individuals who have no church or whose church will not do the service for one reason or another. We do many interfaith weddings which reflect the backgrounds of the people involved. We are proud to have been involved in the struggle to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. We are proud of our lay chaplains and the work they do. Their ministries touch many lives. Couples they marry often return to have their children named and their parents remembered. |
||
|
To Site Home Page:http://www.uuottawa.com/ |
