A Joyful Rebellion
L’Arche UK is celebrating its fiftieth birthday this year. Volunteer Co-ordinator Mary Osborne describes what being part of it means.
On 20th January 2024, if you had wandered into the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, you would have found yourself at a banquet. Hundreds of people with and without learning disabilities, crammed in, waving colourful flags, dancing to Abba, making a holy noise in that ancient building. This was the fiftieth birthday party of L’Arche Kent, the first of eleven L’Arche communities in Great Britain. In his speech, our National Leader asked: what do you do when a miracle happens? “You see it and you believe it”, rang out a voice in the front row.
In our jubilee year, we are taking the time to notice the miracle of our community. L’Arche is an international federation of communities of people with and without learning disabilities sharing life. We are based at eleven sites across the UK, from Manchester to Brecon to Inverness. Friendship, faith and celebration are at the heart of our shared life. But when you live in L’Arche, you witness fragility and pain as well as friendship and joy. The last five years have been bruising. The pandemic, a social care funding crisis, Brexit and the revelations of historic abuse have hurt us. And yet, miraculously, we’re still here – see it and believe it.
Our jubilee theme is ‘joyful rebellion’, something urgently needed in 2024. Sharing life as people with and without learning disabilities is a rebellion against a care sector that doesn’t always care and a society that too often sees disabled people as less capable of relationship or creativity. But, throughout our history, we have rebelled with joy rather than letting ourselves be deadened by anger.
2024 is momentous for L’Arche but also for the wider world: two billion people will vote in elections, the geopolitical situation is on a knife-edge, and the climate is reaching multiple tipping points. I can’t pretend my six years of life in L’Arche have given me answers to these very difficult questions. But they have taught me something about how we live together in a hurting and imperfect world: gently, joyfully, rebelliously, expecting miracles.
Join our joyful rebellion and apply for our live-in programme, the Soulful Internship. You’ll live and work alongside people with learning disabilities whilst being guided through a programme all about mindfulness, embodiment, and L’Arche’s distinctive charism. Learn more at https://www.larche.org.uk/soulful-internship. Alternatively, you can sponsor an intern for a year. Get in touch with us at livein@larche.org.uk