Spirituality Commission

This Commission had its first meeting since the new mandate was written two years ago. The members of the Commission are: Wendy Lywood (Daybreak), Sylvie Morin (Beloeil), Landys Klyne (Western Canada), Tamaki Saga (Lethbridge), Fr. Ray Huntley (Cape Breton), Jason Grieg (Cape Breton) and myself.

After reviewing the current mandate and the work accomplished by the previous commission, we decided upon some priorities. Regional delegates will continue to meet with the regional councils on a biannual basis. The purpose of the meeting is to share the work of the Spirituality Commission as well as to hear from community leaders in order to get an understanding of what would be helpful to them to deepen the spiritual life of the community. Chairs of the Spiritual Life Committees of the communities will be invited to this part of the meeting.
As we develop our action plan, we will keep you informed.

Retreat planning continues to be a priority for the Commission. I am grateful that the following people have accepted to plan the following retreats:

• The Journey of L’Arche Retreat: Silas Barss Donham
• Covenant Companions Retreat: Mary Egan
• Covenant retreats: Jo Lenon.

We are still looking for someone who could do this for the Emmaus retreat. If you or anyone you know is interested, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  (hcard@larche.ca)

If you continue to read our letters, you will be kept abreast of the news of the Spirituality Commission.

National Council

The first meeting will take place in early September. In preparation, the Steering Committee is working hard to get everything in place so that the information package can be sent out to the members of the National Council at the beginning of July. 

We now have the names of all the regional delegates. The members of the National Council are:

• The vice and regional coordinators;
• The L’Arche Canada Board members;
• Nathan Ball, Executive Director of the L’Arche Canada Foundation;
• Dean Leavitt, Board President of the L’Arche Canada Foundation;
• The National Coordinators; and
• The following regional delegates:
  • Western Canada: Marni Davis and Annette Kuhn;
  • Ontario: Warren Pot and Peggy Keaney;
  • Québec: Marie Claire Hardy and Judith Larouche
  • Atlantic: Donny MacIntosh and Beth Wolters.

We are very grateful for each person who has accepted the challenge of being part of this new entity in our structures.

Each participant is asked to respond to the following questions prior to arriving at the meeting.

What in L’Arche Canada do you give thanks for?
What is a concern you carry regarding L’Arche Canada?

It would be very interesting to hear your responses to these questions! Feel free to send them to me if you should wish!  (hcard@larche.ca)

From Joe Egan
Aging and Disability

During May I had the opportunity in my own community to participate in the annual review of my good friend Patsy Ramsay. I have known Patsy, a wonderful and feisty woman with Down Syndrome, for over 35 years as we came to L’Arche at about the same time. We also have been members of the same small Agape group for years now which meets every six weeks to share a meal together. In more recent years Patsy has lived with the growing challenge of Alzheimer’s.

What touched me most at her review were two things.

The first is the quality of care and presence she is receiving today. Everyone in her home and in our community is there to help Patsy in the many ways she needs help as she has grown weaker and more dependent. Everyone is doing whatever it takes to keep Patsy well in her home, knowing that the day may still come when she will need to move into long-term care, like other core members in various communities have already done, if and when that clearly becomes the best option for her.

The second reality for me during her review was how much Patsy is still able to touch the hearts and lives of those she lives with and of her many faithful friends. Patsy strongly calls others to be at home with her. Here we touch on the mystery of how human weakness can touch the hearts of others. As Jean Vanier has written, “weakness when recognized, accepted and offered is at the very heart of belonging, and so it is at the heart of communion with another.” We all have to decide whether he is right or crazy.

You can meet Patsy and some of her housemates and friends on the new L’Arche website on Aging and Disability. She is featured in a few of the videos you will find on the website, which also has many helpful articles and other resources, both from L’Arche and many other sources.

Many thanks to Cathy Dansereau the project manager and to Jean Louis Munn and the Communication Team for this wonderful resource, which we hope will make available the experience of L’Arche to other care givers, health professionals and family members. This site offers wisdom and practical tools to face the challenge of aging with grace and dignity.The public launch for the website is June 14th. Please do all that you can to let other interested people know about it.

Free Bible Study Kits

We are now offering, thanks to the help and generosity of Beth Porter, up to 10 free copies of the Bible Study kit “Exploring Your Future: A Bible Study with Jean Vanier,” to Community Leaders. It can be used for assistant formation and for gifts to youth leaders, local clergy, theology schools, chaplains at colleges or universities.

We would just ask that the community pay the shipping costs. (The package includes the “Choosing Our Future” DVD-ROM with Massey Lecture clips, so this is a great deal!) We know from reviews we have received that the kit is good. It targets 14-17 year olds but can be used for youth a little younger (confirmation classes) or adapted for undergraduate students or young assistants.

You can order the kits by contacting Beth Porter at eporter@larche.ca 

L’Arche Stratford

I was happy to speak at the 37th annual meeting for L’Arche Stratford on June 1st. It was so good to see all the old-timers there again.

An annual meeting is a time to celebrate all that we have lived together and all that has been given to us in the past year. It is so important to focus on our ‘graced history’ and remind ourselves of what is essential about our community life together. It is critical to name the wonder and grace of our stories, that is, to remember with delight what has touched our hearts.
At times we may focus too much on all our problems and issues, which just gives us a headache! It is best to build our future together by focusing on what is positive and working well. That will give us the energy to tackle our challenges.

In my short talk I also shared about the importance of relationships. Jean Vanier writes, "The secret of L'Arche is relationship: meeting people, not through the filters of certitudes, but heart to heart; listening to people with their pain, their joy, their hope, their history, listening to their hearts beat."

The conclusion of the first stage of the International process on Commitment and Belonging said: “Some participants stated that what is really important for them is that they were ‘welcomed just as they are’ and invited to friendship, home, meaningful work and personal growth” In short, “It’s all about people and being in relationship”

Once more I am reminded that our call and challenge in L’Arche is to believe in the importance, beauty and sacredness of the ordinary in our daily community life in our homes and programs and how this can transform us. If we believe, we will be amazed and changed by what we experience.

Community Leaders Meeting in Montreal May 25th-28th

It was so good to be all together again, the first time since the General Assembly meeting last November. Since then we have welcomed three new community leaders to L’Arche Canada:  Christine Monier, Jim Lapp, and Jennifer McCauley, community leaders of L’Arche Comox Valley, L’Arche Winnipeg and L’Arche Sudbury respectively.

The purpose of the meeting was for Hollee & I, as National Coordinators, to meet with Community Leaders directly, both individually and as a group. It gave us the opportunity to share with everyone the various developments at the national level and to receive feedback too.
As we planned this meeting, we used the framework: body, mind and spirit. 

For our bodies, we spent the whole first day with John Stevenson, a sports psychologist from Edmonton. His workshop on stress management was informative and very practical. He covered topics like the physiology of stress, how stress happens, and common stress complaints. But he also gave us some answers too! We discussed tips for surviving change, for good self-care and basic relaxation and breathing techniques.

The rest of the agenda was full as well. Jean Christophe Pascal was with us to share about the new developments at the international level. We also discussed the upcoming National Council meeting in September, the integration of unincorporated regions with L’Arche Canada, our draft strategic plan, the budget, leadership development and succession planning with Danielle Thibeault, communications with Jean Louis Munn, and the Commitment and Belong Process Stage Two with Peggy Keaney. 

Every day started with a faith sharing in small groups and the readings for that week from St. Peter’s first letter fit well. In the evenings we just relaxed together, catching up with old friends, playing cards and singing. (and a little bit of wine and beer too!)

Overall, the evaluations were quite positive and there are always ways to do better next time. For me, most important is the reminder that we are all L’Arche Canada, that we are on mission together and that we do need one another to be faithful to our call to be L’Arche and to be a sign of hope in our world.

Below, Yvette Légaré shares some of the significant changes in the Québec region. Yvette, who has been the regional board president since 2003, is stepping down. Yvette is a dynamic, active person who contributes a great deal to the region and her home community of L’Arche L’Étoile. As I have said to her on several occasions recently, I will miss her. She has assured me that she isn’t going anywhere!

News from Yvette Légaré, L’AAQ:

There are some major changes happening in the leadership in the Québec Region. Philippe Gosselin is the Board President of the Association des Arches du Québec (l’AAQ). Sylvie Morin, who has been the community leader of L’Arche Beloeil for the last ten years, is now the Regional Coordinator. The search for a vice regional coordinator continues.

We wish to express our sincerest thanks to Gabrielle Beaulieu who has been the regional coordinator for the last year. Her wisdom and care have allowed the region to move forward together in preparation for something new. Thank you, Gabrielle! We wish you well as you prepare for the next phase of your life’s path.

The AAQ welcomes other new members to the regional board:

• Gilles Drapeau, executive director of the Fondation des Arches du Québec; and
• Mme. Ghislaine Goulet, a volunteer with L’Arche Montréal.

With their welcome they say good-bye to some long-term faithful members: Marie Loranger, who has been the secretary and Yvette Légaré who has served as board president since 2003.
We are grateful for all Marie and Yvette have brought to the region. We deeply appreciate those who will continue to carry the region forward.

The region has a new mandate which focuses on the four following points:

• Funding;
• Unity in the region;
• New ways of living L’Arche; and
• Governance.

The region has been working on the questions of funding and governance since last fall. Please keep them in prayer as they work on these serious questions!

News from Nathan:

Things are changing within the L'Arche Canada Foundation. They are moving into new office space (still in Richmond Hill) this summer and will make a formal announcement about that in the near future. Nathan and the Board are in the final stages of hiring a new employee who will, hopefully, begin working out of the Richmond Hill office sometime in July.
 
Over the past two months four new Directors have been added to the Foundation board: Anne Marie Meehan is a Vice-President of the Harris Bank and based in British Columbia, Nancy Coldham is a entrepreneur and the founding partner of the CG Group, a well established public affairs consulting firm in Toronto, Kathleen McLaughlin is a senior partner with McKinsey & Company and is a leader of the North American Retail Practice and the leader of the firm's Social Sector Practice, and André Vincent is Vice-President, Quebec, for Médavie Blue Cross and the President of the L'Arche Quebec Foundation. It is evident that each of these people bring competence and new networks to the Foundation, in addition to the important fact that they each "get" L'Arche and are eager to serve in this way.
 
Nathan just returned from a meeting with L'Arche country fundraisers from France, USA, England, Poland, and Germany. It is exciting to see the contribution that Canada can make to help build the capacity of L'Arche fundraising beyond Canada. We are learning from others and we have a lot to share.
 
Please pray for the continued growth and development of the L'Arche Canada Foundation. Its success matters to all of us.  

Upcoming Events in June

There will be a Covenant Retreat June 14-20 in Montreal and the Word be given by Sue Mosteller from L’Arche Daybreak and Jocelyn Girard from L’Arche Montreal. Many thanks to them and to the rest of the team for giving this opportunity to people to deepen in the spirituality of L’Arche. Please keep this retreat, the team and participants in your prayers.

The Coordinators Group will be meeting in Halifax June 21-23. We look forward to meeting with the new community there. Along with the usual agenda items, we will also be having a two day workshop together on Nonviolent Communication.

The L’Arche Canada Board will also be meeting in Halifax June 25-26 to continue our work on governance and to review the draft strategic plan.

Our last newsletter for the summer will be at the end of June. Thank you for the positive feedback about the newsletter because sometimes it is hard to get it done when there is always more to do!

Conclusion

As you can tell from this letter, L’Arche Canada is growing in many different ways and we are facing new invitations and challenges. In the midst of our busy lives, let us not lose track of the essential. Being welcomed just as we are, into a friendship is a deep cry of each of our hearts. Our world is looking for this sense of belonging, of community and connection. This week, I heard an interview with a performance artist who spent three months sitting in an art gallery six days a week. There was an empty chair in front of her. People lined up and waited for hours to sit in front of her and look into her eyes. Nothing was said between them, simply an uninterrupted gaze into a stranger’s eyes. People were deeply moved; they talk about the community that was created while standing in line for hours waiting for this experience. The artist talked about her preparation to wordlessly welcome the person before her as they were.

Our lives allow for this contact on a daily basis. Perhaps our busy-ness and preoccupations don’t allow us to catch these moments. At times, it is exactly this connection that we wish to avoid as it can seem a burden or reveal vulnerability. For those times, it is so important to remember that our lives are supported by One who does not tire of looking into our eyes and who cares for us more deeply than we can believe. Jesus promised his disciples:

Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

In gratitude,  Hollee and Joe