The Lyon conference was in fact the second organised recently by L'Arche in France: the first – just as successful- took place in Toulouse in 2009. And the secret of success? Apart from excellent teamwork, this can be attributed to the choice of theme: the conference is not on L'Arche itself, but on a subject with a far broader public appeal: ‘what really is the place of weakness in our society? How are we as a society working with weakness?’ Drawn by the challenge, a variety of well-known speakers from health, psychology, education and social work spoke out of their own experience.

In all, over 1500 participants listened, discussed and debated. This included of course a good number of members and friends of L'Arche in France.

An experience such as ours is rare and needs hearing! Too few are the tables across the world, where ‘weakness’ of all kinds can sit down to supper with ‘strength’ of all kinds and discover a new delight in life at the hands of the other. Isn’t this the gift of community that we live out day after day in our houses and families? A tissue of extraordinary relationships created for changing the world! Click here and be inspired!