Welcome to ECUT

The Ecumenical Chaplaincy at the University of Toronto

Why are you at U of T? To learn? To prepare for the future? To make friends? To earn a living? To make the world a better place in your own way? At ECUT, we recognize a longing for mental, physical, spiritual and emotional well-being among students, staff and faculty at U of T. The ECUT staff offers friendship and support to the university community in the search for learning, meaning, purpose, community and wholeness.

ECUT is a Christian voice, rooted in the traditions of The Presbyterian Church in Canada and The United Church of Canada, for the community studying, working and living at the University of Toronto.

Worship and prayer is offered through our base colleges, Emmanuel and Knox. We also offer fellowship in small groups, and sensitive pastoral conversation and care.

ECUT also offers dynamic programs on campus, in areas like ecology, peace, gender and sexuality, and scripture study, – to name a few – in collaboration with Anglican Campus Ministry, Lutheran Campus Ministry and the Student Christian Movement of Canada.

ECUT staff include a chaplain, Rev. Ralph Carl Wushke; an associate chaplain, Jeanette Unger; and occasional work study or theological field placement students.

Why ECUT is at U of T and What We Do

ECUT seeks to live its vision in the following ways:

• providing opportunities for members of the university community to encounter the Holy;
• initiating interdisciplinary programs and workshops among members of the university community which promote Christian values and fellowship, and offer opportunities to explore questions of value and meaning in relation to various disciplines;
• organizing meetings or displays of a theological and/or multi-faith nature;
• promoting discussion or action on vital spiritual or ethical issues;
• responding to the needs of individual members of the university community, including referrals to other agencies where necessary.

History of the Chaplaincy

ECUT was founded in the 1990s and builds on the legacy of a long tradition of campus ministries that were associated with Hart House, Knox College and Victoria University. Thousands of U of T alumni have had profound – even life saving – contact with the chaplains in the ECUT family tree.

Social Justice

Liberative justice, peace-making and ecological concerns are often a key aspect of campus ministry programs, and this is true of ECUT. Our ministry engages with students, staff and faculty to ask how education contributes to the mending of the world.

ECUT Newsletter

Click here to read or print "Calling Our Friends"

“...I have called you friends...” John 15:15