L’Arche Across America: From Haverhill to Billings
Six members of the L’Arche Boston North community, traveling west from Haverhill by mini-van, reached Billings, Montana, on Monday evening, May 15. This marked the end of the firstweek of the “L’Arche Across America” tour, which will take them 8,000 miles and visit a dozen L’Arche communities in the continental USA. . First week on the road For the first four nights, core members Woody, Doris, and John D, and […]
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L’Arche Across America Rolls West
On Tuesday morning, May 9, the van was loaded with three core members, three assistants, and enough materiel for an amphibious landing. By 9am “L’Arche Across America” was underway, headed for L’Arche Syracuse. Woody was heard to proclaim, “So long, Haverhill. It was nice knowing you.” The plan is an 8,000-mile, 26-day adventure, threading its way through 12 L’Arche communities and visiting sites from Glacier to the Grand Canyon, all […]
Read More“L’Arche Across America”: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Journey
On Tuesday, May 9, three core members and three assistants of L’Arche Boston North will set out on an 8,000-mile, 26-day odyssey across America and back. They will visit twelve L’Arche communities from Syracuse and St. Louis to Seattle and Los Angeles. Along the way they will see Niagara Falls, Mt. Rushmore, Glacier National Park, the Pacific Coast Highway, and the Grand Canyon. The Birth of a Dream The plan […]
Read MoreCollege Students Spread the Word about L’Arche
Two or three times a year, groups of college students stay a week at L’Arche Boston North, learning lessons the classroom cannot give, experiencing what words cannot adequately describe. From Boston College, Holy Cross, Iona, and most recently Stonehill College, students come and live in our homes, sleeping on spare beds, couches, and floors, and sharing community life. (In the photo above, John plays cards at Pat House with Stonehill […]
Read MoreJudi: Celebrating 25 Years in Community
Judith Ann Elizabeth is her baptismal name, but everyone in community knows and loves her as Judi. Looking back on her life—including 25 years in L’Arche—Judi refers to it as “so much fun.” That description applies to her too. (The photo shows Judi having fun with Donald in early days at L’Arche Irenicon.) Today Judi is a leader at Nazorean House, where she loves cooking, ironing, and doing housework. Judi […]
Read MoreL’Arche Assistant Travels to Trosly
“I could not stop smiling,” said L’Arche Boston North assistant Ariana Bachman about her week in Trosly, the French village where L’Arche was founded in 1964 and where founder Jean Vanier still lives today. That hardly seems to qualify as news. As head of Nazorean House and a L’Arche Boston North Assistant for nearly ten years, Ariana smiles often and broadly. For six days, December 4–9, she was one of […]
Read MoreMajority Turnout Among Core Members
Here are some Election Night facts you didn’t get on CNN: Among core members of L’Arche Boston North, turnout was 53 percent. Nazorean and Peace House had the highest turnouts, each sending three of four core members to the polls. Of the nine core members who voted, seven were women and two men. You can analyze these results but the message is clear. The majority of those with intellectual disabilities […]
Read MoreWe Know How to Have Fun Here
Nobody parties like L’Arche. Case in point: our Halloween soirée at Assisi House. At Pat’s House (where your humble reporter was sharing time) the costuming began early, as Sheriff Phil waited patiently for his posse— Fran donned a banana costume while Todd helped Dan get ready— The other two houses—Peace and Naz—sent their own caped crusaders including Wonder Woman (alias Doris)— And the party was underway. But wait! A second […]
Read MoreDan Comes Home to Pat’s House
The timing couldn’t have been better. Just a month after a new fully accessible home opened at L’Arche Boston North, one of our core members living here underwent surgery on his spine. This week Dan came back to Pat’s House, after successful surgery and three weeks of rehab. While Dan continues to recover with his neck immobilized in a brace, he is using a hospital bed, a specially adapted wheelchair, […]
Read MoreWelcome Our New Core Member, Gentleman John
“Welcome is one of the signs that a community is alive,” Jean Vanier writes in Community and Growth. “If a community is closing its doors, that is a sign that hearts are closing as well.” As Americans we get this. Yesterday our grandparents arrived as strangers. Today we argue over immigration. At L’Arche we get it too. Pat’s House welcomed John, a new core member, on Friday, September 30, and […]
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