» Who we are » Key people of the Federation
People with an intellectual disability are at the heart of L’Arche. The Federation has about 2.700 members with a disability. This column introduces you to one of them. Visit us again in some weeks, and you will be able to meet another one of the people at the heart of L’Arche. Read...
L’Arche would not exist without those who come to live with our members with an intellectual disability. Assistants come from a variety of backgrounds, countries, social origins, and religious traditions. Some come for a lifetime, others for a year. Read...
For nearly four decades, Jean Vanier has travelled the world fashioning a network of homes where people with developmental disabilities, volunteers and a sprinkling of staff live together in community. Those we lock away and think worthless, he says, have the power to teach and even to heal us. We are all “broken” in some way, he believes. (…) “When you start living with people with disabilities”, he says, “you begin to discover a whole lot of things about yourself.” He learned that to “be human is to be bonded together, each with our own weaknesses and strengths, because we need each other.” (…) Tall and stooped, Vanier radiates the strength of a man who has fought his own inner battles and surfaced with peace. (Maclean’s/September 4, 2000, p.33) Read...
“After sixty years of priesthood, I am pleased to notice that it is amongst people with an intellectual disability that I have been able to be the apostle of the Holy Preaching which comes right from the heart and which is addressed to the heart.” (Father Thomas Philippe on the occasion of his 60th anniversary of priesthood) Read...
Raphael could not teach me French and could not answer the phone for me. He could not do anything except for being my friend and standing by me - and that’s what he did. He came to the office everyday, made us coffee, hugged me and gave me a kiss to remind me he thought about me. It did not matter to him whether I spoke French or not. He was not interested in my successes or failures as a community leader. I was here, and that was enough for him. (George Durner, Regional Coordinator, France) Read...
The first time I saw Jean Vanier was in a centre which I wasn’t allowed to leave. I saw him at the Chapel, and then he gave out the soup. First, I was impressed. I thought that the table was so small as he was so tall.” Read...
Henri Nouwen was an internationally renowned priest, author and professor who spent the last 11 years of his life in the L'Arche communities of Trosly, France and Daybreak, Canada. Read...
Doug is currently between homes in Canada! Having packed up their belongings in Winnipeg, Doug and his wife Carol Steer are spending a year in their apartment in Montpellier, France before returning to Canada to live in Victoria. Doug and Carol have three children and four grandchildren. Read...
Jean-Christophe Pascal was born in 1952 in Lille, France as the eldest of seven children. He arrived in L’Arche Trosly in 1973. He is married to Zizi Eudes, a Canadian painter and illustrator, who came to L’Arche Trosly in 1969. The couple has three daughters and two grand-sons. Read...
Christine McGrievy was born and raised in the Lake District in the Northwest of England. She first came to L'Arche Trosly for a year straight after university where she studied Modern European and American history. Back in England, she qualified as a history teacher. Christine decided to return to L’Arche for another year but eventually stayed for more than twenty-five! Read...