Unitarian Universalists of the Salish Sea

Ceremonies

Since 1971 Canadian Unitarian Universalist Lay Chaplains have been creating and performing rites of passage, including weddings, child dedications, and memorial services. Lay chaplains are carefully chosen members from individual congregations, who are trained and licensed by the Canadian Unitarian Council to provide this outreach service to people who want a religious or spiritual ceremony. We craft ceremonies to cater to the individual circumstances, taking faith, values, sexual orientation and gender identity, and cultural differences into consideration.

Weddings
in BC Unitarian Universalist Lay Chaplains are licensed by the provincial government to legally solemnize marriage, while allowing for individualized ceremonies bringing the couple and their community together with unity.

End of life ceremonies
Memorial services, celebrations of life, loss of animal companion, graveside services, pre cremation support are examples of the range of end of life services offered. Planning such a service with a supportive, knowledgeable officiant can be a blessing to a family in a time of loss.

Child welcoming
Welcoming a child through birth or adoption is lifechanging for the whole family! A child welcoming ceremony plays an important role for families who consider themselves to be spiritual, but not necessarily religious. This ceremony is meant to celebrate the child, recognize their unique name, and officially recognize the responsibility of the parents, siblings, and community for the care and nurturing of the child.

Meet Barb Moore, our Chaplain!

Hello. Thank you for your interest in Unitarian Universalists of the Salish Sea Lay Chaplain services. My name is Barb and I am a middle aged woman of northern European descent, honored to be living beside the Salish Sea on the beautiful, unceded, lands of the Coast Salish people. My family name is Deacon; I might just have an ancestral calling to do the work of a Lay Chaplain.

I am a daughter, sister, mother, mother-in-law, fur mom, aunt, colleague and friend. I work in health care and love my job. When I’m not at work I enjoy puttering in my garden, cooking for my family and friends, poking about in tide pools (especially the ones on Hornby Island), and helping set up our new UUSS congregation.

I have deep reverence for the interconnected web of existence of which we (humans) are a part. I very much enjoy being of service to people wanting to mark special moments in their lives through ceremony, as our Indigenous neighbors have been doing on these lands since time immemorial. In the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer “ceremony helps us remember to remember”. To re-member ourselves in our community of both human and non human relatives, with grace and humility. To celebrate our beginnings and grieve our endings. And everything in between.

I look forward to meeting you.

Testimonials

Thank you...so very much for the beautiful eulogy you prepared and deliver for my Dad. I'm sure he loved it. Thank you

Barb, I just wanted to say again, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for today's program!! It was beautiful and perfect and everything we wanted it to be! And please send my thanks to the musicians again, they were absolutely fantastic! I am so glad they were able to learn those two songs!! You are amazing, thank you for everything you've done for us and given us. Thank you for celebrating our precious girl with us today.
~ Tara

We just want to thank you so much for yesterday. The ceremony was perfect and really did what we hoped to achieve for our son and the community around us. Everyone after kept saying how much the also enjoyed it and that they felt inspired as well. We can't thank you enough for providing us with such a lovely way to honour our child.
~Michele, Don & Maxwell

Please email info@uusalishsea.ca for prices and availability.

We acknowledge that we live on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem First Nation), which lies within the shared territories of the Tsleil-Waututh, Katzie, Musqueam, Qayqayt, Squamish, and Sto’:lo Nations. We thank the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm who continue
to live on these lands and care for them, along with the waters and all that is above and below.