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L'Arche is about changing society by being a sign of hope and love.
"L'Arche knows that it cannot welcome everyone who has a mental handicap. It seeks to offer not a solution but a sign, a sign that a society, to be truly human, must be founded on welcome and respect for the weak and the downtrodden.
In a divided world, L'Arche wants to be a sign of hope. Its communities, founded on covenant relationships between people of differing intellectual capacity, social origin, religion and culture, seek to be signs of unity, faithfulness and reconciliation."
the Charter of L'Arche
"How to rekindle motivations that urge us to open up to others and to struggle to make our world a better place for all?
What is important is that each of us begins to trust in our own beauty and our capacity to do beautiful things.
When we begin to believe that there is greater joy in working with and for others, rather than just for ourselves, then our society will truly become a place of celebration."
Jean Vanier
"L'Arche reveals the hidden quality of all human suffering. L'Arche reminds our world that great issues can only divide us unless we are deeply rooted in personal friendships."
Henri Nouwen
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| Stories...
The entire teenage staff
of our local CoffeeTime Donut shop came to George's wake and
funeral, grieving openly. "He came in every day and talked to
us," they explained. "He treated us like people."
As his father said, Adam
was a quiet man. In fact, he never spoke a word in his 36-year life.
But when Adam died quite suddenly, we saw the influence of his life.
Former assistants and friends flew thousands of miles to be at his
wake and funeral. Condolences poured in from all over the world, all
people wanting to name how their relationship with Adam had changed
their lives, affecting them forever wherever they went.
( Henri
Nouwen later wrote a book about Adam, called Adam,
God's Beloved.) |
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