Communities
- Communities of faith
- L’Arche communities are communities of faith, rooted in prayer and trust in God. They seek to be guided by God and by their weakest members, through whom God’s presence is revealed. Each community member is encouraged to discover and deepen his or her spiritual life and live it according to his or her particular faith and tradition. Those who have no religious affiliation are also welcomed and respected in their freedom of conscience.
- Communities are either of one faith or Inter-religious. Those which are Christian are either of one church or interdenominational. Each community maintains links with the appropriate religious authorities and its members are integrated with local churches or other places of worship.
- Communities recognize that they have an ecumenical vocation and a mission to work for unity.
- Called to Unity
- Unity is founded on the covenant of love to which God calls all the community members. This implies welcome and respect for differences. Such unity presupposes that the person with a disability is at the center of community life.This unity is built up over time and through faithfulness. Communities commit themselves to accompany their members (once their membership is confirmed) throughout their lives, if this is what those members want.
- Home life is at the heart of a L’Arche community. The different members of a community are called to be one body. They live, work, pray and celebrate together, sharing their joys and their suffering and forgiving each other, as in a family. They have a simple life-style, which gives priority to relationships.
- The same sense of communion unites the various communities throughout the world. Bound together by solidarity and mutual commitment, they form a worldwide family.
- Called to Growth
- L’Arche communities are places of hope. Each person, according to his or her own vocation, is encouraged to grow in love, self-giving and wholeness, as well as in independence, competence and the ability to make choices.
- The communities wish to secure for their members education, work and therapeutic activities, which will be a source of dignity, growth and fulfillment for them.
- The communities wish to provide their members with the means to develop their spiritual life and to deepen their union with, and love of, God and other people.
- All community members are invited to participate, as far as possible, in decisions concerning them.
- Integrated in Society
- L’Arche communities are open and welcoming to the world around them. They form an integral part of life in their localities, and seek to foster relationships with neighbours and friends.
- The communities seek to be competent in all the tasks they are called to accomplish.
- The communities wish to enable people with a disability to work, believing work to be an important means of integration.
- The communities seek to work closely with:
- the families and guardians of people who are disabled,
- professionals,
- government authorities, and with all those who work in a spirit of justice and peace for people who are disabled.
