ABOUT CANTERBURY HOUSE
NEVER JUST ONE THING
Canterbury House is the Episcopal campus ministry at the University of Michigan—but that has never meant simply being a place for church.
For generations, students have come through our doors to ask questions, make art, share meals, organize for change, explore spirituality, make music, and find community.
That's still who we are.
A HOUSE WITH A HISTORY
Canterbury House has been part of the University of Michigan community for more than a century.
But some of our most defining years came during the cultural and political movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
At a time when students were questioning institutions, protesting war, experimenting with new forms of art, and imagining a different kind of world, Canterbury became a place where those conversations could happen.
Faith didn't stay safely inside the walls of a church.
It collided with music, politics, justice, art, protest, and everyday life.
Students involved with Students for a Democratic Society gathered here as they organized against the Vietnam War.
Worship experimented with poetry, film, popular music, and new forms of expression. Canterbury became a place where spiritual questions and the questions shaping the world around it could exist in the same room.
That spirit hasn't disappeared.
ALWAYS A PLACE FOR MUSIC
Canterbury House also became one of Ann Arbor's legendary intimate music spaces.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, artists including:
Joni Mitchell
Neil Young
Janis Joplin
Odetta
Richie Havens
Gordon Lightfoot
Buddy Guy
performed through the Canterbury concert series.
Some were already known.
Others were still becoming the artists the world would eventually know.
But the point was never simply to bring famous musicians into the room.
Music was—and continues to be—a way of exploring something deeper.
Creativity. Connection. Protest. Joy. Grief. Spirituality.
Today, Canterbury continues that tradition by making space for student musicians, local artists, experimental sound, concerts, and creative exploration.
RADICAL WELCOME IS PART OF OUR STORY
Across generations, Canterbury House has tried to be a place for people who didn't always know where else they belonged.
A home away from home.
A gathering place for activists.
A supportive space for LGBTQ+ students.
A spiritual community for people questioning what they believe.
A place where artists could experiment.
A table where someone could simply sit down and eat.
We don't tell that history because we think we've always gotten everything right.
We tell it because it reminds us of the kind of community we want to keep becoming.
One willing to listen.
One willing to change.
One willing to ask difficult questions.
One willing to make room.
AND THE STORY IS NOT OVER
Canterbury House is still a place where faith meets the world.
You might find silence here.
You might find a concert.
You might find dinner cooking in the kitchen.
You might find a conversation that changes your mind.
You might find people asking some of the same questions you are.
You might even find something you weren't looking for.
Whatever brings you through the door, there's room for you in what comes next.