Calendar of events
Here you will find all of our congregation’s Sunday services, Board and Committee meetings and other events. Use the calendar controls to see events for past or future dates. For a quick look at recent Sunday services, click here!
During the Humanist Enlightenment of the 1700s, humanistic ideas emphasized reason, science, and individual rights over religious dogma. This era fostered new philosophical, social, and political ideas that shaped modern thought and promoted values such as tolerance and liberalism. In our non-dogmatic, principles-based religion, Unitarian-Universalists continue that enlightenment into 2026. Where do we look for authority?
Bio: Peter Scales is a semi-retired historian who likes to learn and teach about UUism.
Forum: There will be a forum after the service and coffee. Peter will be in attendance.
Unitarian Universalists have never required a single answer to life’s biggest questions. We love mystery. We honor science. We respect doubt. We embrace metaphor. And we leave room for the miraculous—even if we may not all agree on what that word means. Our faith tradition does not have the absolute answers to those big questions. We do offer responses – ideas about the big questions that help us understand life and its meaning.
Bio: Rev. Debra Faulk, Minister Emerita, now lives in an intentional community on Vancouver Island on the traditional land of the lək̓ʷəŋən People, known today as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. She is walking distance from two and a ferry ride from the other three grandchildren. She contributes as a volunteer serving on the CUC Board and as a coach for other UU ministers. Debra continues to do consulting work and guest preaching. Other delights include gardening, cooking and wondering.
Forum: There will be a forum but the speaker will not be in attendance.
Speaker: The story of John Craven Jones, read by Leigh Waters
In 1859 the Governor of BC invited a group of Black people in San Francisco to come to BC and receive a free grant of land. John Craven Jones took up a parcel of land on Saltspring Island. Having neither school house nor teacher there, John began teaching at two locations on Saltspring. He taught 6 days a week and spent one day working on his wild land to meet the government requirement of improving the property within two years of its acquisition. Indigenous elders of our area tell us, you must know the history of the land you walk on. February is Black History Month, let’s learn about one of BC’s early Black settlers. And think about the effects of isolation from their communities that many settlers and immigrants face.
Speaker: Karla Thomson, UUCV
At some point in our lives we will be a caregiver or care receiver. From personal experiences I will try to help you understand and cope with some of the challenges dementia presents.
Speaker: Heather Stefanek reading a talk by Melanie Davis
Sexuality Through a UU Lens. OWL, or “Our Whole Lives” is a progressive, comprehensive lifespan sexuality education program which has been offered by many UU congregations since the year 2000. It addresses the Unitarian Universalist Association’s commitment to sexual justice and inclusivity, incorporating the values of Self-Worth, Responsibility and Sexual Health. Learn more about the program through this service which was created by Dr. Melanie Davis, PhD, and is provided free to UU congregations. Her talk will be read by Heather Stefanek.
Bio: Melanie Davis is a Certified Sexuality Educator and CSE Supervisor, a professional development provider, consultant, and human sexuality adjunct professor. She is the co-president of the Sexuality & Aging Consortium at Widener University. A lifelong UU, she is manager of the OWL program for the UUA, and author of “Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education for Older Adults”.
Speaker: Rev. Wayne Walder (part of the series MMiLT)
Truth is often a belief system we use to make sense of the world. ‘Practicality’ means we are aware of what works. When we confuse these two, we lose the essence of both. Wayne speaks to us by video, in this year’s Meaning Making series, “Meeting this moment with love and justice.”
Bio: Rev. Wayne Walder retired 3 years ago from the Neighbourhood UU Congregation in Toronto, a congregation he helped start with 5 people and $50. Ministry was his second career. He has 3 children and has lived with his wife Joan for almost 40 years. Each day he sits quietly for about an hour hoping to learn more about enlightenment.
Speaker: Sarah Weaver with Lee Tuley.
Music Team: jazz pianist: Attila Fias, song leader: Zorah Staar
Our first principle says we, as a congregation, ‘affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person’. This week our homily is a conversation in which Lee Tuley engages with Sarah Weaver to explore how we can embrace this principle through examining the nature of our judgements, and developing curiosity as a way of more deeply connecting with life and each other.
Bio: Lee is a Counselor specializing in Integrative Body Psychotherapy, Health and Spirituality – all of which are at the center of her personal life, along with creative writing. She also has had two interview talk shows, one in community radio, and one at KSFO in San Francisco. She comes to Capital for the special community of people here.
Forum: Sarah and Lee will be in attendance for the forum.
Speaker: Ana Smith
Music Team: jazz pianist- Attila Fias, song leaders- Cathy and Dick (Directors of Gettin HIgher Choir)
This presentation traces the journey from an impossible adoption decision to the quiet, daily work of surviving a fractured mind. Through writing, the speaker transforms fear and fragmentation into coherence, dignity, and hope. It is a reminder that saying “yes to life” is not a single moment but a lifelong practice of returning to oneself and reclaiming the narrative.
Bio: Ana Smith has been a peer mental health support worker for over 16 years, a Vancouver Film School graduate and accomplished screenwriter. Following a schizophrenia diagnosis in 1998, Ana uses her creative voice to help others find healing through story telling.
Forum: Ana will be in attendance for the forum.
Speaker: Janice Kalin, Director of Philanthropy at Our Place
Music Team: jazz pianist- Attila Fias, song leaders- Cathy and Dick (Directors of Gettin HIgher Choir)
Our Place walks alongside people through every season and every step- building trust, offering care and creating real pathways from crisis to stability. Janice will talk about how Pathway of Support, helps people move from survival to stability, recovery, and independence. And introduce Our Place’s Reunification House. And why it’s such a critical next step for women in recovery who are working toward rebuilding life with their children. Together, these pieces show how housing, recovery, and family reconnection come together to create lasting change.
Bio: Janice Kalin has recently moved to Vancouver Island. She has years of fundraising experience, advocating for some of the most stigmatized populations- the unhoused and addicted. She wants to ensure that everyone has access to the resources and supports to rebuild their lives.
Forum: Janice will be in attendance at the forum.
Speaker: Lee Tuley and Michael Riess.
Music Team: jazz pianist- Attila Fias, song leaders- Cathy and Dick (Directors of Gettin HIgher Choir)
Michael Riess has a unique history intersection with three different experiences of Jewish life. He had a father who was the only survivor when his immediate family was destroyed in the Holocaust. He experienced antisemitism, sometimes violent, in his early years. Finally, he lived on a Kibbutz in the earliest of the establishment of the State of Israel.
Forum: Lee and Michael will be in attendance at the forum.
Speaker: Rev. Arran Morton (video homily – part of MMiLT series)
The practice of seeking wisdom: what can we learn from the multiple truths that come from varied identities, life experiences, religions and cultures? It takes wisdom to discern when to let a challenging truth take root in our hearts and imagination.
Bio: Rev. Arran Morton (he/they) arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick via a family crosscountry road trip from the West Coast (Victoria, BC) in 2024. Arran is from Scotland originally and is delighting in living close to the Atlantic Ocean again, albeit from the other side!
Forum: There will be a forum, Rev. Morton will not be in attendance.