Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche, has died

May 7, 2019 3:34 PM

He once said: “I had no plan, I just met people and people with disabilities awoke my heart.” Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche, whose charity work helped improve conditions for the developmentally disabled in Canada and around the world, has died at 90. In his Becoming Human Massey Lectures he imagines a society in which the gifts of all, particularly those of the weak and the powerless, are an equal, common heritage.
posted by kneecapped (20 comments total)

Oh, that made my heart squeeze. I grew up across the street from a L’Arche house in small town Quebec, and the house’s residents and staff were a big part of our small community.

What a gift he gave the world. Vale, Jean.
posted by third word on a random page at 3:39 PM on May 7, 2019 [8 favorites]

Even though his passing is a loss, we'll have a legacy of his work that continues to inspire others. We needed this kind of goodness on the front page today

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posted by Fizz at 3:46 PM on May 7, 2019 [5 favorites]

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posted by vverse23 at 3:47 PM on May 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Aw, man. I saw a documentary about L'Arche maybe a decade ago that just destroyed me, despite my being a) generally a stony-hearted individual and b) not really into the whole catholicism thing. Can't remember what it was called (it wasn't the recent one mentioned in the obit), but I still tear up thinking about it. I don't subscribe to his religion, but Vanier was the real deal.
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posted by demonic winged headgear at 3:59 PM on May 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

I really loved that Becoming Human lecture. My in-laws ran a group home for many years and some of their kids would go to the L'Arche community near them. It really helped those poor kids, who in many cases, had virtually no one and had never known any kind of dignity as human beings. As sad as it might be to see him go, Jean Vanier's legacy with any luck will continue to help and inspire into the future.
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:09 PM on May 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

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good man
posted by philip-random at 4:11 PM on May 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

This 2 part CBC Radio documentary series, The Rabbit and the Giraffe from 2016, is also very good: Part 1 & Part 2.
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:14 PM on May 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

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posted by LobsterMitten at 4:43 PM on May 7, 2019

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posted by biggreenplant at 6:04 PM on May 7, 2019

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posted by kozad at 7:17 PM on May 7, 2019

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posted by Mister Bijou at 9:00 PM on May 7, 2019

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posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 11:43 PM on May 7, 2019

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posted by Riverine at 8:25 AM on May 8, 2019

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posted by Cash4Lead at 8:55 AM on May 8, 2019

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posted by gauche at 10:15 AM on May 8, 2019

I am not aware of a single L'Arche community that has had to close - once established, they may move or change, yet all the time they flourish.

If ever there was an opposite to "toxic masculinity", Jean Vanier was it.
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 7:32 PM on May 8, 2019 [4 favorites]

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posted by SyraCarol at 9:07 PM on May 8, 2019

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posted by hydropsyche at 4:09 AM on May 9, 2019

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posted by koucha at 10:18 AM on May 9, 2019

Thanks for sharing this
posted by harriet vane at 3:22 AM on May 11, 2019