We meet weekly for a justice-focused bible study at U of T. Together we explore biblical text from our context and experience and from the lens of social justice!
When: Wednesdays at 6:15 pm (Winter Semester)
Where: Chaplaincy Office at Knox College (Basement)
This space is feminist, anti-racist and queer friendly, and all are welcome! All faith traditions are welcome!
You can email us at uoft@scmcanada.org
(image copyrighted by nakedpastor.com, thanks for letting us use it!)
We are looking for workshop submission for Cahoots Festival 2016! Submit a workshop idea on faith & justice, the social gospel, justice in action, anti-oppression, Do It Yourself skill-sharing, art and everything in between!
Send us a short description and a bio of yourself to cahoots@scmcanada.org. Workshops are usually between 1 and 1.5 hours.
Let us know if your workshop is all ages or not as well since we have kids coming too. Please include your name and email address.
Our festival is a DIY effort, and everyone is invited to be part of our structure. Being part of a Cahoots Committee is a way to share your skills, keep our ticket prices affordable and meet new people! These are committees that will meet mostly BEFORE the festival. Email cahoots@scmcanada.org if you want to join one of these committees! We. need. you. You can join any of the following committees:
Music and Sound
This committee recruits bands, schedules them and is responsible for the overall music program in the evening. This includes renting music equipment, and taking care of all the tech needs of the bands.
Kids and Play
Organize the kids’ program and schedule volunteers and facilitators to hold them. It also includes liaising with parents during the Festival and making sure everything goes smoothly!
Food and Drink
Ahh we love to eat, but we need people to work with Rachelle (our lovely cook) to meet any of her cooking needs. Also we need folks to organize kitchen volunteers and make food announcements.
Art and Creativity
This includes helping decorate the Festival and deciding how to incorporate art into the festival. You can set up for example a collaborative Cahoots art project at the Festival.
Safer Spaces & Hangouts
Organize and select afer spaces and Hangouts. Make the announcements for them during the Festival. You will also be responsible for dealing with any safer space issues that emerge with the rest of the committee.
Prayer & Support Tent
Help organize this space and organize volunteers who can take a shift supporting, counselling, praying, and talking with people.
SCM Ottawa in partnership with the Max and Tessie Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies is hosting a film screening at Carleton University to explore marginalized gender and sexuality identities within the Navaho, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions. Feb 1-4, 2016.
Films will start at 7 p.m., followed by a facilitated discussion. Cost: FREE! And we’ll have popcorn.
MONDAY
Two Spirits (2009)
Information: https://streamingmoviesright.com/us/movie/two-spirits
TUESDAY
Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School (2005)
Trailer: http://
WEDNESDAY
A Sinner in Mecca (2015)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/
THURSDAY
For the Bible Tells Me So (2007)
Trailer: http://
In anticipation of Easter, join us for a night of poetry, music, spoken word and stories on the theme of ‘Jesus, Justice & Me’
Sign up starts at 7pm. Share your thoughts, doubts, affirmations and hopes in your performance! We want you there!
Come and enjoy the performance skills of others, and connect with others inspired by these same themes.
Songs
Poetry
Music
Spoken Word
Story Telling
Monologues
and maybe dance!
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/551042911710140/
An event of Faith Connections (Christ and Culture), the Student Christian Movement of Canada (SCM), and Christian Peacemaker Teams.
Friends! Please plan to join us at Kenesserie Camp from June 9-12 for another Cahoots festival of Faith, Social Justice and DIY! Tickets will open March 1st.
We’ll continue the growing tradition of radical, ecumenical and inclusive learning and play, rooted in Christian practice.
Facebook Event Page https://www.facebook.com/events/662247220544883/
At Cahoots, we aim to create a microcosm of the world we dream of. We believe in making Cahoots as accessible as possible. We keep prices low by mobilizing a village for the weekend. Everyone who comes contributes however they are able, from chopping veggies to presenting workshops, from doing the dishes to playing with kids. Cahoots is not just a place to consume information, but also participate in transformation.
We welcome newborn babies to wise owls to foster intergenerational relationships and learning. Join us this summer!
In the coming weeks we’ll be looking for people to volunteer for specific roles – joining one of our committees, or designing a workshop to share a skill. Think about what you can offer, or who you can invite to help create this festival.
Cahoots is an anti-racist, feminist and LGBTQ+ affirming space. We are also committed to making it accessible. Please let us know of your accessibility needs.
Contact cahoots@scmcanada.org with specific ideas or questions.
In this season of Advent, as I was reflecting on my year, a man in Colorado walked into a Planned Parenthood health clinic with a gun and shot three people.
As Robert Lewis Dear walked into the clinic, I imagined the terror of the women there. Some of them may have come to get pregnancy testing. Others may have come for an abortion. But all probably came knowing full well that society is watching them. After all, women often stand on narrow and shifting ground. They are judged for any reproductive decision they make. They are judged for having a child out of wedlock, and judged for having an abortion. Judged for having too many children or not enough. Women are judged for giving birth with no medical intervention and for giving birth with it.
And as I think of all this, I think of Mary in this season of Advent. She too was pregnant and in a vulnerable place. She too was condemned by society. She too might have faced the violent judgment of a patriarchal society.
For me, what is moving about this story is that in this vulnerable place and despite the difficulties, Mary gives birth to Jesus. Jesus- which to us in the Christian tradition, is God’s face revealed. Love comes down from a fragile and vulnerable place. An unlikely place. A small place. And as I think of Mary, I think about all those women who went to that clinic that day. And how in that small place, in that place where society can be cruel, hateful and even murderous, women find a renewal of life either through an abortion, where they may feel a sense of relief, or of expectancy of a child.
Mary teaches me that love doesn’t live in position or power, but in the small places of our lives. And in our small struggles for justice and peace. Life-giving peace is renewed and created in those spaces.
“We are all called to be mothers of God – for God is always waiting to be born” – the German mystic Meister Eckart
Sarah is the current General Secretary (2015-2016). Sarah first came across the SCM at the mobilization against the G20 in Toronto. She attended a prayer vigil organized by SCM and was hooked. She then attended weekly SCM meetings on faith and justice at the University of Toronto SCM Local Unit meetings. Sarah is passionate about freedom for all people – freedom of thought, freedom of movement across borders, freedom to create and to love. Sarah thinks the SCM provides an avenue to begin to work for this.
Ashley Russell is an SCM Board Member and SCM Ottawa member. In November, SCM sent Ashley to Colombus, Georgia to attend the annual School of the Americas (SOA Watch) Convergence. These are her reflections on the trip.
We Shall Overcome! A Peace Vigil to Shut Down Stewart Detention Centre
On Friday, November 20, at the School of the America’s Convergence, I attended a workshop Why We Must #ShutDownStewart. Monica asked the participants to share her husband’s, Jose Morales, story. She believes no one knows or cares about migrants. To honour her request, I am sharing their story with you:
The morning Jose was kidnapped, the police knocked at Monica’s front door looking for a man named “Roberto Morales”. Monica informed them that no one by that name resided there. So the police pushed down her door and arrested her husband. A few days later, Monica received a phone call from her husband saying that he was being held at the Stewart Detention Center. A staggering 98.5% of the men detained at the Center are deported. Despite being detained for seven months under the wrong name, Jose was deported to Mexico. Shockingly, we learned that sometimes fake names are used to deport immigrants out of the US.
With Jose’s story of injustice fresh in my mind, I joined 850 people, from across the US and Canada, for the 9th Vigil to Shut Down the Stewart Detention Centre. Outside the SDC, Anton Flores, the man who started the movement to shut down the Center, spoke about the intolerable conditions where the 1800 men are held. The men are housed in “chicken-coup” like cells, with 65 men to a room and only two urinals. The food at SDC is known for having maggots or for being served undercooked or spoiled. Family visits are rare and “no contact” only. This means that children are unable to hug their fathers before they are deported. Those detained are not well informed about their status, they cannot see their ICE agent regularly, and they are forced to wait up to several months in handcuffs for deportation.
It is under these conditions that individuals detained have looked for ways to resist and protest, such as hunger strikes and work strikes. What else can they do? That morning I attended the march, 11 resisters took direct action and crossed the gate of SDC and were arrested by enforcement police. As I observed their courageous stand for justice, tears ran down my cheeks as the cuffs
were put around their wrists.
Video on the School of Americas – The Empire Files – The U.S. School That Trains Dictators & Death Squads
– Organized the second Annual Cahoots Faith, Justice and DIY Festival. The gathering brought together 150 people from 10 denominations, with 30 workshops, music and arts
– Launched SCM resources such as the Migrant Justice Devotional and Feminist Devotional
– Organized the WSCF North American Regional Assembly held in Ottawa, bringing 30 SCMers from the US and Canada together to learn about racial justice and decolonization. This event was held in tandem with Kairos’ conference and the release of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
– Held leadership trainings, events, and workshops on faith and justice, including workshops on the social gospel for young adults
– Supported young leaders in communities and campuses to increase the faith and justice network and awareness of the Social Gospel
– Supported social movements, for example, engaging in solidarity with Aamjiwnaang First Nation’s struggle for environmental justice
We would be humbled and joyful if you DONATED:
1- We challenge the Christian tradition by asking questions rather than giving nice pre-packaged answer
2- We support students and young adults to think critically of their faith
3- We welcome ALL of you to our table. We are an affirming community.
4 – We create programs that advance the Social Gospel!
5- Sometimes our projects don’t work well, but we learn from our mistakes
6- We give students and young adults oppurtunities to run the organization
7- We have a very very tiny budget of $90,000 or less and we hire 1 staff member!
8- We’ve been around for 94 years! We know that’s not a reason, but it’s cool to mention!
