Faith and Light
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Faith and Light is an international Christian ecumenical movement for people with learning disabilities, and their families and friends, founded in 1968 by Jean Vanier and Marie Helen Mathieu to plan a pilgrimage to Lourdes for disabled people.[1]
At the time of the movement establishment many families with disabled children were refused to participate in common pilgrimage groups together with ordinary people. There was a fear, that handicapped children could "upset" others. So, Jean Vanier and Marie Helen Mathieu help people and families with disabled children to self-organize in mutual support for pilgrimages to Lourdes.
About 12000 from all over the world people took part in the first such pilgrimage in 1971.[2] After the event the communities continued to meet and so Faith and Light was born. Major pilgrimages organized by Faith and Light movement took place in 1971 (Lourdes), 1975 (Rome), 1981, 1991 and 2001 (all Lourdes). As of 2008, the movement has 1500 communities in 76 countries on 5 continents.
In March 2008, the international councils of Faith and Light and others founded by Jean Vanier movement for disabled people L'Arche met for the first time in joint meeting in Lviv, Ukraine.[3] The international council of L’Arche was represented by 30 persons from 14 countries, and the international council of Faith and Light was represented by 19 persons from 17 countries, including France, Belgium, Switzerland, Great Britain, Ireland, India, Canada, USA, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Brazil, Uganda, New Zealand, Philippines, and Italy.
