Taize prayer is a form of contemplative spiritual practice, rooted in the Christian tradition, and originally developed in the context of an international and intergenerational praying community in France. Taize songs share words of scripture, often with multiple language options, and are usually repeated to build a sense of peace and meditation. Come and explore contemplative prayer through calming songs. We’ll try a few.
about the facilitator
Hanna has been a Cahoots participant for years and is sharing her first session this year! She has loved Taize prayer ever since she encountered it for the first time while working at Queens U, living in Kingston. The local Catholic Church would have Taize nights: a choir singing in the dark with candles and she thought it was like heaven. She then visited the Taize community in France in 2001 and is excited to share this year!
Recovering from Religious Trauma is a conversation that is desperately needed within faith communities and beyond. This session will share personal stories of religious trauma, responses and survival, explore the latest research, and have space for discussion and conversation for mutual learning. Whatever experiences you bring to the session, know that our intention is to hold space for your stories and move towards a healing community. Since this session engages trauma, Deanna encourages all participants to engage in the way that is best for them, including taking breaks or leaving if need be. Resources and content information will be provided, and a chaplain will be available to listen.
about the facilitator
Hi! I’m Deanna (she/her). I am a religious trauma survivor and a sociology nerd. I am a 4th year Social Psychology student at McMaster, a queer single mom of 2, and a piano and voice teacher. In my spare time, I listen to nerdy podcasts and audiobooks, cuddle my pup, go on adventures with my kids, and go to therapy.
I was a missionary for a fringe section of a non-denominational Charismatic organization for six years and grew up as a ministry kid before that. I was twenty-seven when I burned out so severely I wanted to end my life. Over the next nine years, I began deconstructing my faith and discovered the phrase “religious trauma.” I became invested in learning as much as possible about it, connecting with others with shared experiences and finding ways to heal together. I have since facilitated two online religious trauma recovery groups and currently facilitate an in-person support group for survivors of religious trauma in partnership with Stardust Therapeutic Collective. I am currently involved in a capstone research project on the intersection of faith and disability and working on a proposal for a research project on the effects of leaving religion. It would be my great honour to hold space for your stories and share with you mine. We heal in community.
The need for spiritual care arises in all aspects of life and it is of critical importance to nourish one’s inner spirit. When it comes to justice work, protest movements and encampments those involved can become exhausted in mind, body and spirit. In 2024, Julian, along with classmates and faculty provided spiritual care to those present at UofT (University of Toronto) Pro Palestinian Encampment. As a result of this experience, Julian will invite us to consider how protest is like a deeply sacred prayer that transforms and works in us. Join in a meaningful and important discussion of what it means to find protest as prayer today.
about the facilitator
Julian (they/it) is a student at Emmanuel College. It is training to be ordained into ministry in the United Church and a registered psychotherapist. They are an activist, animal lover, and drag clown! Come to “Protest as Prayer” to hear stories from the UofT Pro-Palestinian Encampment and how activism and prayer unite.
Green burials involve a natural return to the earth—biodegradable caskets or shrouds are used, bodies are buried three feet down, there is no embalming, and natural decomposition nourishes the earth and can support natural habitats. In most areas, green burial is also the least expensive option, contrasting with the profit-hungry corporate cemetery “services” that often exploit ordinary people at a particularly vulnerable moment in their lives. Green burial resonates strongly with biblical Christian teaching. That we came from dust and to dust we return (Gn 3:19) and that our central human task on this planet is to care for the earth and for each other. Come to learn more about the principles of a green burial, how it contributes to our care of the earth and how we can take back control of the natural process of death.
about the facilitator
Sue is a studio potter in Kingston and an elder at Next church. She has been the convenor for Green Burial Kingston since its inception in 2018. GBK is an advocacy group for green or natural burial. She believes that 2025 will be a milestone year as the City of Kingston will open more than 100 green burial sites.
David Lyon is Sue’s partner, an author and a retired professor who supports Sue in the green burial work. David has written some op eds and articles about green burial.
There are more ways to engage scripture than just Bible study. Engaging with scripture can become a dynamic time of prayer when we allow our imaginations in. Using the spiritual practice of Gospel Contemplation, participants will have the chance to reflect on scripture as the “film director” (set the scene), “the actor” (choose a role) and finally by “breaking the 4th wall” (praying into the story as yourself). Don’t worry if you have stage fright, this movie will only play out in your own imagination! Bring a willingness to read a Jesus story through your imagination, and openness to a fresh ‘encounter’ in your personal experience.
about the facilitator
Randell Neudorf is an artist, musician, and believe it or not, a punk monk on staff with GOHOP (the Greater Ontario House of Prayer). GOHOP is an urban monastic ministry based in Hamilton, Ontario and part of the world wide movement of 24-7 Prayer. Randell loves combining new and ancient spiritual practices in ways that make prayer dynamic, participatory, safe and sometimes even a little fun.
“If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I’d do. I’d go out into a great big field all alone or into the deep, deep, woods, and I’d look up into the sky–up–up–up–into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I’d just feel a prayer.” Join Bailey for a walk in the woods and one of their favourite Anne Shirley-inspired spiritual practices. We’ll explore some of the trails around camp (perhaps learning about some of the plants and trees around us as we go!), stopping often to “feel a prayer” in the beautiful and holy spaces we encounter.
about the facilitator
Bailey Eastwood (they/them) is a United Church minister and the National Coordinator of the Student Christian Movement of Canada. Their faith and ministry have been formed and shaped by summer camping ministries, a lifetime of reading, a deep appreciation for the natural world, and their undergraduate education in biochemistry. Bailey loves being in community, encountering new theologies, making things with their hands, and learning just about anything. Their life’s ambition is to be able to identify every tree.
This workshop will be largely geared towards cisgender folks looking to learn about trans experiences and how to be in solidarity with trans people, to hold a graceful space for learning and exploring uncomfortable questions. Through this workshop we will learn and discuss together the ways that we are all deeply interconnected to the struggles of transgender people and can find in trans liberation a movement towards life-affirming ways of being for all people. Trans and nonbinary people are also welcome to attend, as we can all learn and share something new about eachother’s experiences. Leave behind ideas of otherness but bring any burning question (or simmering ones) you might have about transness.
about the facilitator
Jack is a genderqueer artist and writer of many names and occupations meandering around the great lakes basin. They are deeply invested in trans community care and the relationships that keeps us alive and make that life worth living. Jack has been a rogue trans inclusivity educator for over 10 years and loves having challenging, awkward and important conversations.
Come to sit and listen to stories and songs that will thematically march around experiences with homelessness, precarity, and mental health crises. Chris will weave together moments of reflection, dialogue and prayer throughout. This is likely to be a heavy session that will discuss severe mental health struggled so bring an open heart and only attend if you have the emotional capacity.
about the facilitator
Chris is a singer-songwriter from Toronto, ON trying to figure life out. An original and long-running part of the Cahoots organizing team he is enjoying seeing Cahoots from a slightly different perspective. Chris is extremely eclectic with a broad range of interests and has worked lots with children and folks experiencing homelessness.
For as long as there have been problems in the world, there have been faithful people seeking to make changes. The Work that Reconnects is a methodology that grew from the need to acknowledge and honour the spiritual and emotional components of justice work. through a specific cycle of gratitude, honouring our pain for the world, visioning new responses, and committing to our own contributions, we deal with our pain and exhaustion and find renewed strength.
Come and explore this creative and interactive process, which also touches on concepts such as Systems Thinking and Deep Time/Ecology. Be open to hearing and sharing your own areas of pain and struggle in a supportive space.
about the facilitator
Sarah (she/her) lives in Tkaronto and did an intensive training in the Work that Reconnects in 2011, which resonated with her background in justice work as a Quaker, Anglican, and then–United Church national staff member. She is passionate about pollinator gardening, community-building, and singing.
Becoming a better person is less like ignoring the devil on your shoulder, and more like learning to play a musical instrument. Learn about ethics as skills we can apply, using the langugage of ‘virtue’ rather than rules or precepts. Bring along your memories learning ethics, your questions about how churches and society understand morality, and the willingness to re-imagine some good old-fashioned words like “prudence” and “temperance”.
about the facilitator
Michael Buttrey is finishing a PhD in Christian Ethics at the Toronto School of Theology and work part-time for an Anglican Church and for the Canadian Council of Churches. He is passionate about adult education, books, Star Trek, and tabletop role-playing. In recent years he has collaborated with others on open letters addressing the mishandling of sexual abuse by institutions like the Anglican Church of Canada and Regent College. Michael grew up in the Mennonite Church and still thinks faith and progress is best explored through grassroots dialogue and solidarity, not hierarchy.
