Our Mission
To make known the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities, revealed through mutually transforming relationships.
L’Arche Fredericton is founded on a community Hub model where adults of varying intellectual abilities can share life, celebrate and grow with one another.
The primary mission of each L'Arche community is to be a medium for revealing the gifts of people with disabilities so that the world may benefit from them.
Our History
L'Arche was founded in a small home in Trosly, France in 1964. It was called the house ''L'Arche'' after the French word for ark referencing the biblical story of Noah and the flood.
From these humble beginnings, L'Arche has spread around the world. The International Federation of L'Arche Communities now includes over 140 L'Arche communities in 38 countries on six continents. L'Arche Canada was founded in 1969 with the opening of L’Arche Daybreak in Toronto, Ontario and now includes 27 homes across the country. Closer to home, L’Arche was established in New Brunswick when McKim House opened its doors in Saint John in 2005.
Faith and Light
At Easter in 1971 there was a pilgrimage to Lourdes for 12,000 people, including 4,000 people with a disability. The goal was to confirm the place of people with disabilities within their churches and society and to allow people with disabilities to participate in the spiritual journey from which they had felt excluded.
This was the beginning of Faith and Light: an ecumenical christian organization which continues to bring together people with developmental disabilities, their family and friends for monthly gatherings of prayer and celebration. Every ten years since the founding pilgrimage the organization has lead another major pilgrimage to Lourdes or Rome.
Today there are over 1,500 Faith and Light groups in over 80 countries run mostly by volunteers. The mission of the organization is to create bonds of friendship and to bear witness to God’s love for all people. Faith and Light is founded on the belief that each person has the right to be loved, recognized and respected for himself or herself.