Tapestry with Mary Hynes

Many of Canada's 27,000 faith spaces and buildings across Canada are in danger of closing. But some could be reborn and repurposed as community hubs.

Over the last seven years, teams of faculty and student researchers at Michigan State University and Ohio State University have gathered and cataloged hundreds of audio recordings. The sonic archive documents the diversity of everyday religious life.

From the sounds of drive-in church services to a look at repurposing church buildings, how religious practice and its spaces continue to shift during the pandemic.

Henry Lee Heinonen and his father Eric have very different perspectives on how they see the world, but over the summer, they both concluded they wanted to help people living in Toronto’s homeless encampments.

On the surface it might seem like an almost bureaucratic detail - a piece of information that helps the government to find you … when it’s time to pay your taxes. But your address can mean a lot more.. Deirdre Mask explores the link between where you are - and who in her book The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power.

Deirdre Mask is the author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. She says an address tells the world where to find you. But its meaning doesn’t stop there. Henry Lee Heinonen and his father Eric Lee are landscapers living in Toronto. As they went to work this past year, they saw more and more encampments springing up around the city and wanted to do something to help. They volunteered with the Encampment Support Network to build shelters for people without housing

Erica Lenti hoped she could hide her sexual identity from her grandmother until Lenti either married or her grandmother died. Getting engaged meant she couldn’t hide it for much longer

If it hadn’t been for his mom’s daily correspondence while he spent eight years in prison, Marcus Bullock may not be the dad and business leader he is today. He created an app that connects families with incarcerated loved ones.

If it hadn’t been for his mother’s daily correspondence while he spent 8 years in prison, Marcus Bullock may not have become the man he is today. Bullock created an app that connects families with loved ones in prison in a similar way. Erica Lenti’s grandmother didn't know she was gay. For years, Lenti chose not to tell her out of fear of rejection. She hoped to keep this information from her grandmother for as long as possible, but getting engaged made it so much harder.

Memona Hossain has spoken to dozens of Muslim women around the world whose faith inspires their work as leading climate activists. Her field, Applied Ecopsychology, helps explain people’s deeply personal connections to the earth, and Hossain says spirituality is a crucial element.

Jenna Vandal always knew she was Métis, but her family’s history was hidden from her. After years of hard work and dedication, she has reconnected with her heritage and the land, and found that the past contains a blueprint for reconciliation.

You’re going to meet two women with profound connections to the land. Memona Hossain is a PhD student in Applied Ecopsychology. She has spoken to dozens of Muslim women around the world whose faith drives their work as climate activists. Jenna Vandal recounts the long, winding path to connecting with her Métis heritage.

Researcher Adam Mastroianni has found that conversations tend to last a length of time that makes no one happy. He says it’s ok to say to goodbye when you want a conversation to end — but why does that feel so difficult to admit?

Post-pandemic, design critic Alexandra Lange wants to see city-wide, street-based events given priority. Children need the freedom to play safely this summer — and beyond.

Post-pandemic, design critic Alexandra Lange says we would all benefit from city-wide, street-based events. And it might be worth asking what the kids would want. Meanwhile researcher Adam Mastroianni has found that conversations tend to last a length of time that makes no one happy.

Brian Carwana calls himself The Religions Geek. He’s the Executive Director of Encounter World Religions. And he says despite Canada’s rich religious diversity, much of the population remains “religiously illiterate” — a condition the pandemic has simultaneously exacerbated and alleviated.

When the COVID-19 pandemic turned indoor gatherings into possible superspreader events, some people who are part of a religious community have had surprising success by breaking bread in virtual reality.

For churchgoers, COVID brought some big adjustments. Lockdowns and social distancing meant that many believers stayed at home — either sleeping in, or watching the service over Zoom. But a few pastors responded to the moment by seizing it. They built new churches in virtual reality. Plus: how the pandemic has shaped religious practices — for the worse, but also for the better.

Bunmi Laditan is a writer and poet best known for her satirical Twitter account @HonestToddler. She retraces her spiritual path from her family’s Yoruba Christian faith to her conversion to Judaism and beyond, and shares heartfelt selections from her book, "Help Me God, I'm a Parent: Honest Prayers for Hectic Days and Endless Nights".

Weeks into the war, Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary in Kyiv, where Reverend Ivan Rusyn is president. He says that while his faith in God has only gotten stronger, he has a different perspective on pacifism than he did before the war.