St. John's Chapel
St. John’s Chapel at Huron is located right next to the memorial tower entrance on Western Road. The chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and available to the entire Huron community as a calm, quiet space for prayer, reflection, and meditation.
Reflection: Why a chapel in a post-post-modern secular liberal arts university?
I am increasingly convinced that the contemporary university is ideally suited to contribute to the world’s most urgent crises by developing not only minds but hearts. If I am right, the university must take the task of ‘character building’ seriously: a task that involves the heart as well as the head.
We know that political leaders throughout the world have all been educated in ‘critical thinking’ by the best universities in the world. The U.S. National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking defines critical thinking as the “intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as guide to belief and action.” Tremendous. But is this type of ‘reasoning’ enough to save the world?
It is clear that in the university classrooms our minds must be open to have our cherished notions of truth shattered in order to receive truth in new and deeper ways. But might it not also be the case that in the university chapel our hearts equally must be open to have our cherished notions of love shattered to understand love in new, refreshing, and deeper ways?
The Chapel at Huron is for all students of all faiths or none: recently in the Chapel there has been a Diwali liturgy of lights, a multi-faith Remembrance Day Observance, and an enthusiastic local Indie Band of agnostic temperament.
But to honour the Anglican heritage of our University and Chapel, during term there is an Anglican Service of Holy Communion each Sunday morning at 11 AM.
The small, informal, fun, creative choir is led by three upper-year students, and the worship lasts less than one hour.
All students of Huron, Western, King’s, and Brescia are welcome to join us on Sunday mornings at 11 AM!