Home > Academic Courses and Programs > Spring Programs> L'Arche
CSC 33968 / THEO 33968 / PSY 23852
Immersion Dates: Saturday, March 10–Saturday, March 17, 2012
Students will leave on Friday, March 9 and return to South Bend on Sunday, March 18.
Location: Washington, D.C. (Students will travel by train.)
Size: 10 students (5 or 6 per site)
Cost: $290
Application Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EST, Thursday, January 19, 2012
Applications are now closed.
Placements will be published at https://www.nd.edu/~csc/application/documents/CSC_Seminars_SP12.pdf .
You will be notified by email when placements have been uploaded.
*Only those students who are in good academic standing with the University are eligible for participation. By submitting the application, you confirm that you are in good academic standing with the University.
Seminar Directors: Cynthia Toms Smedley and Nichole Maguire
Seminar Assistant: Mary Juckett
Overview
L'Arche communities were created by Jean Vanier (winner of the Notre Dame Award for international humanitarian service) to provide places where people with disabilities and people without disabilities can live and work together in the spirit of the beatitudes. There are over 110 communities in 30 countries. The mission of L'Arche is to create homes where the unique value of each individual is realized and celebrated. L'Arche began in 1964 in Trosly-Breuil, France when founder Jean Vanier, invited two men with developmental disabilities to live with him. He named the home, L'Arche, in reference to Noah's Ark—to be a place of refuge and new beginnings. L'Arche USA is comprised of 13 communities and two projects throughout the United States. Please visit the websites of L'Arche USA and L'Arche Canada.
Each of the communities across North America is different. The largest community, "Daybreak" in Toronto, Ontario is home to over 100 people while the Washington, D.C., community is home to 15 people. All of the residents seek to create communities where people with disabilities ("Core Members") can actualize their potential through a full life that guarantees their fundamental human rights — to a home, to meaningful relationships, to an education, to satisfying work, and to enjoyment.
Despite the fact that the individual homes are interspersed throughout the city and nearby suburbs, a strong sense of community life and contact among households prevails. The Core Members live family style with people without disabilities ("Assistants"). Numerous assistants come from across the globe, and these varying nationalities and stories enrich the community. Some assistants reside in the community for a year or two, but others have made it their long-term home — even marrying and raising their family in L'Arche.
A central tenant of L'Arche is that core members have a unique gift for communicating deep spiritual values due to their simplicity and vulnerability. Assistants, visitors and volunteers from all over the world can bear witness to the deep and lasting impact that core members have had on their lives.
The goal of the L'Arche Seminar is to introduce students to the philosophy of Jean Vanier and to the model of service that his writings inspired. Students will also witness how living in a L'Arche community has influenced the lives of the core members, assistants, and others.
Notre Dame/Logan Collaboration
For over thirty years Notre Dame and Saint Mary's students have volunteered at LOGAN Center, a local agency serving people with disabilities and their families. In recent years this relationship has been formalized through direct collaboration between the Center for Social Concerns and LOGAN that stresses community-based learning. This Seminar is an outgrowth of that collaboration in that LOGAN staff members serve as both resource people and participants.
