The following article first appeared in the print edition of The Spectator magazine, dated 23 May 2015
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| Jean Vanier, Founder of L'Arche |
The
Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion hands out £1.1 million each
year to a holy man or woman and is thus the most valuable prize in the
world. Being holy, the unfortunate winner must — though the rules do not
state this — give it all away. (One half-hopes that some previously
blameless monk will blow the lot on wine, women and cigars.)
In St Martin’s-in-the-Fields on Monday, we gathered for this year’s ceremony. The winner, Jean Vanier, a Canadian, joined the Royal Navy during the war. He left it after a few years, studied theology, and became interested in mental disability. More than 50 years ago, he set up a tiny community in L’Arche, his house near Paris, where the mentally handicapped came to live with him. L’Arche now has 147 houses across the world, and 1,500 support groups. The guiding principle is that the strong need the weak. ‘May those who are disabled, and those who think they are not, help each other’, is how Vanier’s sister, Thérèse, put it. Vanier is a big, impressive, gentle man. He has an unusual way of speaking which is like the waves of the sea. Rather than moving in a linear way, he repeats himself with variations and developments — big waves and small ones, surprising splashes of humour, constant movement, reaching his audience from something vast. ‘Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord.’
The only silly thing about this moving occasion was that the invitation said ‘Business attire required’. Vanier has spent his life among people unfamiliar with the phrase and effectively excluded by the concept. He wore his usual plaid shirt and fisherman’s jacket. Come to think of it, that is his business attire.
The following article about L'Arche (named for Noah's Ark) was written by Rosa Monckton (a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales):
A hero with a lesson in love for Britain... The inspiring story
of a man who treats society's loneliest souls like his own family
- Jean Vanier, 86, founded revolutionary care community L’Arche in 1964
- He was horrified after visiting a centre for people with learning disabilities
- Fifty years later he has won a humanitarian award for his incredible work
Fifty years ago Jean Vanier, an ex-Royal Navy midshipman, walked into a grim institution for people with learning disabilities.
Aged
36 and born into a life of privilege he was fearful of coming
face-to-face with intellectually disabled people. He didn’t know how he
would react to them, whether he would even understand them.
Once
inside, he was reminded of a horrifying spectacle he had witnessed with
his mother — a Red Cross worker in Paris after World War II — of
‘hundreds of men and women, like skeletons’ who had just returned from
Nazi concentration camps.
The former prisoners were being treated as outcasts, just like the poor souls Vanier was visiting in northern France.
Vanier
felt he wanted to talk to them, but failed to summon up the courage and
turned away. But as he was leaving, he heard one shout: ‘Will you be my
friend?’
It was
a cry that pierced his heart — and would change his life. In that
moment Jean Vanier felt the pain and loneliness of people who, through
no fault of their own, have been rejected and stigmatised by society.
He
invited two men from the mental institution to live with him at his
home in a village north of Paris. It would be difficult. There was no
electricity, no running water, and Vanier would have to adapt his
lifestyle to accommodate them.
Rosa Monckton (left) with L’Arche resident Pauline Rchilly (right) at L’Arche in northern France
But
this was the beginning of L’Arche, the international organisation he
founded, named after Noah’s Ark and to which he has devoted his life.
L’Arche,
which has communities across Britain from Lambeth to Liverpool, cares
for the mentally disabled. But unlike all previous institutions before
it, carers live, eat and sleep alongside their charges. They are not
considered staff — here today, gone tomorrow — but members of one
family.
As Vanier says: ‘When you share the same bathroom, and your toothbrush shares the same mug, it is different.’
Ex-Royal Navy midshipman Jean Vanier, pictured here in uniform, named his organisation after Noah’s Ark
Jean Vanier, now 86, pictured here in 1975 with a young member of the L’Arche community
It
was to the house, in Trosly-Breuil where L’Arche began, that I went to
see Vanier. From those two young men who came to live with him, there
are now 147 thriving L’Arche communities in 35 countries, following
Vanier’s revolutionary template.
In
recognition of this extraordinary achievement, Vanier was awarded the
Templeton Prize for progress toward research or discoveries about
spiritual realities — on Monday in London.
Worth
£1.1 million to its recipient, it has previously been presented to
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa.
In recognition of his extraordinary
achievement, Vanier was this week awarded the Templeton Prize progress
toward research or discoveries about spiritual realities
Vanier is going to use the money to support his communities.
The
key word is community. Not ‘out in the community’ which is where so
many people with learning disabilities in the UK are dumped, and where
they become lonely, isolated and vulnerable.
L’Arche
residents live alongside their able-bodied peers. Meals are eaten
around the same table, and there is time to discover the importance of
being part of an extended family. There is also time to learn — for
carers and those with disabilities alike — what it is to share a common
humanity.
Vanier is going to use his £1.1 million award money to further support residents of his L’Arche communities
The house, in Trosly-Breuil, northern France, where L’Arche first began as a small idea some fifty years ago
Jean
is a striking man: tall and white haired, with a ready smile. He asked
about my daughter Domenica, who has Down’s Syndrome, and was genuinely
delighted to learn she has a job on Mondays in a Brighton pub.
Until she was born, I never truly understood how society mistreats those who don’t conform to what we call ‘normal’.
Domenica
inspired me to make three BBC documentaries, during which I was shocked
by the way modern Britain so often leaves people with learning
difficulties and their families to cope alone.
Jean Vanier, pictured here with Mother
Theresa, was this week awarded the same humanitarian award previously
bestowed on the nun herself, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the
Dalai Lama
Jean
Vanier agreed — he said moving people out of residential care homes and
into the community was ‘catastrophic’, and added to a pervading culture
of loneliness’.
Asked what we could do to change things, he said part of the solution was teaching pupils about disability in schools.
‘Children
should visit people in old peoples’ homes, they should meet people with
disabilities,’ he said. ‘They need to be taught how to relate to people
who are different.
It is extraordinary that while L’Arche
is recognised through the Templeton Prize as a model of excellence, in
Britain care is heading in the opposite direction
‘In
the UK many people with learning disabilities have no one in their life
except those paid to support them, therefore ignoring the most
important need of all . . . the need to belong to a community.’
It
is extraordinary that while L’Arche is recognised through the Templeton
Prize as a model of excellence, in Britain care is heading in the
opposite direction.
Much
of this is down to political correctness — the ill-informed dogma that
everyone has a ‘human right’ to live alone and to make their own
life-changing decisions.
Left to right: Clemence Montoya, Noemie Buyse and Pauline Rchilly at the L'Arche cardboard box factory
In France, anyone between the ages of
16 and 25 can volunteer for community service for up to a year, and
receive a modest government stipend. Jean Vanier would like to see a
similar scheme here in the UK
Steve
Noone, a consultant clinical psychologist, who was an assistant in the
Liverpool L’Arche community, hopes Vanier’s Templeton Prize win will
help change attitudes.
He
told me the only reason he is a psychologist today is because of his
profound experiences with L’Arche, where he lived ‘heart to heart’
alongside people with learning disabilities. All L’Arche communities
have assistants, who generally volunteer for a year.
L’Arche communities are essentially Christian, but are open to people of all faiths, and for those with none
In
France, anyone between the ages of 16 and 25 can volunteer for
community service for up to a year, and receive a modest government
stipend. L’Arche have 300 on this programme, and Jean Vanier would like
to see a similar scheme here.
L’Arche communities are Christian but are open to people of all faiths, and for those with none.
Jean
has an affection for the UK. He served on HMS Vanguard, which travelled
to South Africa in 1947 with King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and the
two young Princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret on board.
He
recalls Princess Elizabeth’s 21st birthday party in Durban, when he was
chosen to dance with ‘poor’ Princess Margaret. He explains: ‘Poor, as I
was such a bad dancer, and she was so much better.’
Jean Vanier, pictured here with Rosa
Monckton, agrees that moving people with disabilities out of residential
care homes and into the community was ‘catastrophic’, and added to a
pervading culture of loneliness
There
are 11 L’Arche communities in Britain. I visited one in Lambeth, South
London, where 100 people live, 37 of them with a wide range of learning
disabilities.
Some live in supported housing, some require nursing care, and others simply use the day services.
One
of the many extraordinary things about the L’Arche is the high number
of long-serving staff members. Some have been with it for more than 30
years. It is this continuity of service that makes the houses feel like
family homes.
Lambeth
staff member Louise has been there 26 years. Two residents have clocked
up 37 years, and five 20 years. Contrast this with the story in the
newspapers two weeks ago of a university professor who was concerned
about the care his father, who has dementia, was receiving.
L’Arche residents are encouraged to go
out into the wider world, but the belief at the core of the
organisation is that its residents fare better when living as part of a
supportive community
He
installed a hidden camera, and saw there were 57 different people going
in and out over six months, several of them only staying for five
minutes of their half-hour slot.
L’Arche
residents are encouraged to go out into the wider world. Aedan
MacGreevy, who used to work at Goldman Sachs, and now volunteers two
days a week at L’Arche in Lambeth, told me one of the residents likes to
walk in the West Norwood crematorium grounds with his L’Arche
assistant.
One
day he got into conversation with a grave digger, and told him about
his favourite television show. He invited the man to his birthday party
later in the week. Not only did the grave digger turn up, but he gave
him a box set of the show as a present.
There are now 147 thriving L’Arche communities in 35 countries, following Vanier’s revolutionary template
Another
volunteer, Chris Glasson, who used to work at BAE Systems, has
befriended Terry, who is severely autistic. Chris states simply that ‘it
is a privilege to be with him’.
Aedan
told how, when a resident dies, the funeral brings the whole community
together. If people go into hospital, there is always someone from
L’Arche to stay with them. A social worker, seeing the support given to
one resident at the end, said: ‘I would like to die at L’Arche’.
Witnessing
the care and commitment and compassion at L’Arche, in Manchester,
Lambeth and Trosly-Breuil has been wonderful. But the real privilege has
been meeting the people who are cared for, who have found in L’Arche
what it means to have a family, a safe haven and a real home.
And it all started when Jean Vanier — with his most generous heart —heard that desperate cry: ‘Will you be my friend?’
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