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Guest Blog: Ecumenical Chaplaincy at the University of Toronto – Young Adult Social Justice Initiatives: Eco-Spirituality/Queer Spirituality

The Ecumenical Chaplaincy at the University of Toronto serves as a campus ministry with roots in the United and Presbyterian Churches. In Fall 2024, they received a Seeds of Hope grant for their project, Young Adult Social Justice Initiatives: Eco-Spirituality/Queer Spirituality. Their goal is to facilitate university student leadership and community building in social justice. The project focuses in the areas of eco-spirituality and queer Christian spirituality. By developing regular programming and creating spaces for support and connection, they hope to advance inclusion for all and care for creation.

We invited Jeanette Unger, associate chaplain with the Ecumenical Chaplaincy, to share more about this program. Jeanette has a deep interest in exploring faith, growing spiritually, developing the art of holy listening, and being a compassionate presence in a hurting world.

Ecology and Spirituality at the University of Toronto

With funding from the Seeds of Hope grant, we at the Ecumenical Chaplaincy at the University of Toronto were able to hire two university students to support social justice initiatives on campus, one of them being eco-spirituality. The Ecumenical Chaplaincy hired first-year undergraduate student Chloe Kim to work on programming in ecology and spirituality.

We programmed a great year: supporting a student thrift-store initiative, holding a movie night with amazing conversation, and inviting students to a contemplative nature walk. During the nature walk, students read a Psalm and hang out quietly with the trees, sun, squirrels, and soil. How do we connect our faith with our surroundings? How does the land shape our understandings of our faith? What do our spiritual teachings have to say about how we live on this earth? Students shared deeply about how taking twenty minutes during the busy end of term season helped them feel alive, grounded, and connected to God.

Intersection of Faith and Environmental Justice and Importance of Community Building

Two key themes emerged for us this year: the unique intersection of faith and environmental justice and the importance of building community.

1. There are numerous student clubs on campus that focus on environmental justice and there are numerous clubs that focus on specific religious/ethical traditions, but very few that explore the connections and intersections between environmentalism and spirituality. Chloe Kim highlights this unique intersection: “The campus has huge numbers of environmental groups. It was really cool to see how groups with a variety of different environmental interests, like sustainable energy or food. When I was introducing our group (Ecology and Spirituality), people were really intrigued, because it’s an intersection that a lot of people just kind of overlook. It’s more than just an environmental initiative, it’s for your own spirituality as well. That really intrigued people. I found it hopeful how the university has such a big group of environmental groups, and they were all really supportive of each other.”
2. This work is best done in and with community. Finding others who care about the same things, who want to have conversations and to take action, is important. In an environment where it’s easy to feel like a number, the sense of being in community with others is a gift. It’s also challenging. The stress of academic life means calendars fill up quickly. It’s hard to know where and how to promote.

Bringing Faith into Ecological Action

In reflecting on her work with Ecology and Spirituality, Chloe Kim talked about being even more intentional about bringing religion, specifically Christianity, into ecological conversations and actions. “I feel like as the caretakers of this earth, Christians should feel the need to have a different look on environmental issues. It’s really easy to just think of it as something that we can’t really do anything about, but it’s important to do devotions around it and support/create initiatives that are rooted in Christianity.”

We are grateful to the foundation for this grant and excited to continue the work of connecting ecology and spirituality on campus.

— Jeanette Unger, Ecumenical Chaplaincy at the University of Toronto