Movement 134

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celebrate together, have fun together, and give thanks together because we're human beings. JS: What gives you hope? JV: For me I can say it's about living day-to-day. I'd like to add: and celebrating life. What gives me hope is the assistants who come and who say to me, "I feel transformed." It's people with disabilities with whom I'm living and I see they too have been transformed. So the hope I have is the possibility of human beings to be transformed. And that transformation isn't just a question of doing a bit of theology. It doesn't mean taking one's part and singing in liturgies. It's about the discovery that we human beings, we become fulfilled as we enter into relationships of compassion. We enter into a relationship with people that we have considered no good, and who are lonely, and things then begin to change. Hope rises up because we see that human beings are made not to do beautiful things, but to live relationships, and live universal relationships. Charles de Foucauld talks about becoming a "universal brother," and becoming a universal brother or sister through relationships with people who have been pushed down. JS: Could you talk a bit about L'Arche's relationship with the Church? JV: There's something to say that the church encourages us, but personally I get upset when I hear people saylng, "You're doing good work." I'm not interested in doing good work. What is interesting for me is a vision which is ecclesial, social, a way of relating. As I say, LArche is not a school of theology. It's a school of relationships. And it's not a school of prayer, though it leads to prayer. It can lead to theology. But it's essentially a place where we're touching our brokenness. So the heart of LArche, which I think is the heart of the Gospel, is humility. And we're not there to tell people what to do. We're there to enter into relationships with people and the church can very quickly fall into the trap of telling people what to do: what is right, what is wrong, in the various rules on morality, of liturgy and you can see a need sometimes for church to do that, but if that is done in such a way which is different to the washing of the feet, it can be seen as a quest for power. We have been lucky; first of all there are many priests who are standing up, and wonderful bishops who have been close to us. But we are not legally or economically a religious organisation or a catholic organisation. We're an organisation which is able to move into countries where there are Muslims and Hindus and we're not seen as a Christian organisation we're seen as an organisation of truthfulness and - healing. JS: What do you think that Jesus'model of leadership humbling himself has to say to politics? JV: What one sees in politics is so much fighting! But to rise to the top means that we are people of extreme wisdom, who are not fighters. But most politicians have become fighters. Men of ambition. So the implications of LArche... we like to say, "Change the world, one heart at a time." Which is a very small way of doing things. What I see happening now... I see in a certain number of towns, Lille and Paris. There, associations have started to create people who are off the streets and they see that it's living together. There's a movement for people with mental sickness in Besangon, and they're creating these little homes, living together. So there's a sort of movement, and LArche, I think, is seen as a model that healing comes from living together. But it's not just healing. What would be the situation in a place like Israel,/Palestine? What I see is little groups of Palestinians meeting little groups of Jews. They can't bring down the wall. They can't. But they can get to discover their common humanity. The same thing I see with groups in Northern Ireland: the wall is maybe finished, but are people really coming together? People coming together, Protestants and Catholics, to discover their common humanity. And I see that happening also in Rwanda: Tutsi and Hutu women are meeting together to share. So I think there's a model that must move forward, that peace comes as we discover our common humanity. Peace does not come when I am imposing my beliefs on you, or that my culture is better than your culture. Everything has to begin with mutual trust, mutual understanding and therefore mutual growth. We grow together. And there's something new that's happening, the whole question of the importance of the human person this wasn't around before the 1940s or - 1950s. There is a movement now which will never permit at least visible slavery. There are still children who are taking up arms, there are still women coming from Asia or North Africa and into prostitution. There are Mafia organisations. And there is no longer a real dialogue with children about what it means to be human. So there's something growing, which will take a number of years more. JS: Many people would have given up a long time ago. What keeps you going? JV: Well first of all, I'm in a place where I am happy and I feel loved. Something changed: I used to be more or less in charge. But now I sense that they feel responsible for me. Lulu will say, "You're looking tired, you must go to bed," or "You haven't taken your sleep after lunch." There's a mutuality because I'm growing older, because they can see me weaker, there's a mutuality of trust, and of love and of looking after each other. And all of these people are people that have suffered a great deal, had no real family experience. There's a sort of growth. We're happy to be together. So LArche is a place of celebration. You couldn't think of a better place. JonathanSpoor is a student at the University ofYork, currently ensconced in Paris. 6 <strong>Movement</strong> i
ls there really no such thing as society? Ekklesia director Simon Barrow investigates the things that hold us together. What is it that can hold us together in a world of astonishing variety, difference, competition and cultural asymmetry? Whether the concern is ecological destruction, rampant consumerism, or violent conflict - all of which threaten people and planet right now - the answer is often posed in terms of the need for community, for tangible expressions of common belonging appropriate to the local, regional, national and international contexts we find ourselves in. wediscover,r.:i":;lT,'i:L jl,l#'l?ililf ff :ilI,',"rT:Ifi ,?"":T; ourservesil::'.':.'-il;llTf ll#i jl':"Xi'li*1:X j,"f":';"::ifl ""i"H fUlly When We Tt.l*":,:*taining communal bonds even greater. Traditionally, 'a community' has been defined as a group of people interacting d iSCOVg f t h at together and sharing a common location. But now that every locality has taken on a global dimension and finds itself sharing innumerwe bel3ng ;:::*:T#i#:f rocarities ('grocarisation'), that cha[enge has tOgethef. It has often been said from Christian and Jewish theological perspectives that human beings are properly understood not in terms of atomised individualism or coercive collectivism, but as 'persons-in-community', existing through a dynamic synthesis of free relation and active solidarity. So we discover ourselves most fully when we discover that we belong together, but in ways that utilise our differences rather than denying them that is, in communion (rather - than mere contract). This spiritual insight has been reinforced by the experience of a brutal 20'h century in which the ravages of both command-economy communism and unfettered free-market capitalism have made many of us deeply suspicious of totalising photography @ 'solutions'to our problems: ones that cast us either as go-alone heroes or as effective ZataBiril-hlooil <strong>Movement</strong> 7
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Movement 134

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