History

The Gabriola Ecumenical Society emerged from an Ecumenical Roman Catholic and Anglican worshiping community. When this community was dissolved in 2004 many wished to continue the ecumenical encounter that they had been gifted with for 13 years.

In April 2004 our status as a Society was approved and the Gabriola Ecumenical Society was formed.

By 2007 we recognized that we were expanding to include many other faith traditions, and a new logo was created at this time.

Our mission statement became Spirituality Without Borders.  Unity in Diversity.

In 2013, after a decade of working and growing together, the Gabriola Ecumenical Society formed a Visioning Committee to review our past and consider our future. We recognized that what we want to achieve and who we want to be have changed over the years. To express our discernment the new Mission Statement was adopted.

The Mission of the Gabriola Ecumenical Society is to encourage and nurture spiritual questing. Our programs invite exploration of traditional and contemporary ideas found in the wisdom of religious traditions, spiritual paths and the sciences.

The Gabriola Ecumenical Society fosters inclusive community where all people explore challenges of our times with imagination, creativity, and with respect and compassion for all creation.

Our Society continues to evolve and has become more than we could have dreamed of initially.  This is manifested by a rich and diverse program which includes themes for each year.

Programming

Our programming includes musical events, celebrations, workshops, a yearly forum, book studies, film discussions and social events.

Theme for 2015-2016
Walking on the Mystical Side

Theme for 2016-2017
Fire of Transformation … and the greatest of these is love

Theme for 2017-2018
Lifting the Spirit … living in celebration

Theme for 2018-2019
Spirit Flows Freely

Reports of our programming throughout the years can be found on the  Past Events page.

Ecumenism

We currently embrace the following definition of Ecumenism:
Universal, whole, spiritually inclusive, open and collective