Who Are We?
Ordinary people, called together by those among us who are smallest and most fragile.
Faith and Light is a movement of communities, each one bringing together about thirty people.
At the center are people made vulnerable by intellectual disability, in varying degrees; alongside them are their parents and their friends.
The person with disabilities can find their true place in human and Christian communities, called to share all the riches of their heart—their tenderness and their faithfulness.
Parents can find support in friendship as they face their difficulties, come to know their child in a new way, and discover their child's beauty and vocation.
Friends discover a new path of friendship and commitment with people made vulnerable by disability, encountering in each other the presence of God.
Together, walking at the heart of suffering, we become bearers of hope and unity.
In Faith and Light's language, Young People are those whose intelligence is wounded; Parents are their mothers and fathers; Friends are the other members of the community.
What Do We Do?
We live something together: a setback, a challenge, a hope, bonds of affection, moments of celebration. "We learn to grow together step by step, each at our own pace and according to our own abilities, leaving each person free to move forward or to pause, never imposing anything."
A community gathers regularly for:
A time of meeting and sharing
We come together, talk, listen to one another—through words or shared activities—and form personal relationships. We discover each person's suffering and gifts, learn to know one another, and call each other by name.
A time of celebration
With joy and affection, we share meals, sing, dance, play. "We learn to enjoy life, to share in peace and happiness, in hardship and sorrow."
A time of prayer
The gathering finds its fulfillment in prayer and celebration, so "we learn to know who keeps us united—the Lord."
A time of faithfulness (the fourth moment)
Between gatherings, community members continue weaving bonds by meeting for pizza, a weekend trip, a vacation, a pilgrimage. "We learn to lift the burden from parents who live under such heavy daily pressure, to show the disabled person concretely that it is good to spend an afternoon or evening with them, to go out together, to accompany them."
Where Do We Meet?
It would be ideal to have a fixed location—ideally a parish—where people feel at home and know the space well. But we can move from neighborhood to neighborhood, from parish to parish, or when necessary, gather in someone's home if it's large enough.
Communities are bound to one another by ties of friendship, by meetings, by a Charter and Constitution, and they seek to integrate themselves into the life of society and the Church, especially at the parish level.
Seeds of Unity
The movement, born in the Catholic Church, brings together Christians of different denominations in many countries, and anyone willing to walk this path. Ecumenical communities bear witness that the weak and disabled person can become a seed of unity not only in society and the Church, but among the Churches themselves.
How to Start a Community
Take two or three people armed with goodwill, courage, and perseverance—people who have a desire to "do something," probably because they are connected in some way to the world of intellectual disability (a parent, a friend, a priest). They have learned about community from others, heard a talk by Jean Vanier, read one of his books, and discovered in Faith and Light's message the spirit they have been looking for. These people begin to spread the word among those they think might be interested, perhaps in their parish if they have the pastor's support. Or they might start by visiting an established community nearby: knowing others is always helpful in starting out on a journey like this. They can organize meetings to explore what such a community might accomplish; they can read the documents that help clarify its spirit, listen to the testimony of those living the Faith and Light experience.
Less common, but possible and desirable, is when one or more members of an established community decide to "multiply"—rather than divide—the experience and bring it to another parish or setting.
Gradually the word spreads, and before long, what started with four becomes eight; eight becomes sixteen, and the community is truly launched!
Faith and Light Means
To believe:
- that every person, with or without disability, possesses a human and divine dignity that must be respected and nurtured.
- that a person's true worth must be sought beyond their appearance.
- that a life's value is not determined by autonomy or productivity.
- that our ways of understanding do not exclude other ways of seeing.
- that nothing helps a person give their best more than love.
- that parents, however strong and courageous, need others.
- that all of us, without exception, need to love and be loved.
- that we are all loved by God, just as we are.
- that this Love gives meaning to our lives.
To discover through faith in one another:
- that the "little ones" place in us a light that reveals who we really are, not the image we thought we were.
- that this light, received from the smallest among us, invites us to give things their true value and to question the scale by which we measure importance.
- that their presence in the Church is a constant call to conversion toward the spirit of the Beatitudes, to witness to the world Jesus's words: "Blessed are the poor"…
- that the little ones require us to meet them in their simplicity, in their clarity.
- that they are, therefore, an element of union and truth among people.
With the hope that these are not merely words.
Mariangela Bertolini - from Insieme (1980)
A Brief History
In 1968, several parents and educators, including Jean Vanier and Marie Hélène Mathieu, organized a pilgrimage to Lourdes for people with intellectual disabilities, their parents, and friends. It was a response to a call from a couple, Camille and Gerard, parents of Thaddée and Loïc, who were intellectually disabled. This couple had previously been denied hospitality at a diocesan pilgrimage and turned away from a hotel because of their children's condition. Three years later, in 1971, twelve thousand people from fifteen nations gathered at the grotto of Massabielle to celebrate Easter.
Four thousand of them had an intellectual disability.
Three days of prayer, celebration, and meeting without borders of country, age, ability, or background.
Pilgrims who had often lived in deep discouragement experienced at Lourdes a profound joy and communion. Upon returning home, they continued to gather regularly in small communities.
Over time, these communities spread and multiplied. Today there are 1,500 around the world, on every continent and from many Christian traditions. In Italy, there are fifty-nine.
In 2015, Faith and Light celebrated forty years in Italy and one year since receiving recognition of its statutes as an ecclesial association from the Italian Bishops' Conference, which acknowledged the importance of its work in helping people with intellectual disabilities and their families find their place in the life of the Church and in society, through the moments that form the heart of its charism: prayer, encounter, celebration.
Letter from Pope Paul VI to Faith and Light pilgrims, Rome, October 25, 1975
You hold a special place in the heart of Christ Jesus, who tells you: "Come to me and I will give you rest" (Mt. 11).
You hold a chosen place in the Church, where your simple faith, your prayer, your eyes searching for affection, your generous heart remind Christians of the essential path to God.
You hold a place in human society, among whom, thank God, you count many friends bound to you, who sustain you and count on you.
Letter from Pope John Paul II to Faith and Light pilgrims, Lourdes, Easter 1981
The care and attention you give your disabled child or friend have engaged you on a difficult and demanding journey, one that brings with it each day its "shadows" and its "lights." You have understood how important the family environment is for the disabled person—or at least, when that is not possible, an institution or small community that resembles a family, where personal relationships and human warmth allow us to meet, as is right, their deep need for friendship and security, developing their human, moral, and spiritual qualities to the best of their ability.
Letter from Pope John Paul II to Faith and Light pilgrims, Lourdes, Easter 1991
It is society as a whole that must, as it sometimes does, change its attitude by remembering that it will be judged by the way it regards the weakest among us. A disabled person must feel that they are never alone or useless. The Easter message is a message of Faith and Light. The Lord asks us to open ourselves to his Risen Life, which illuminates and radiates his presence through all creation so that we can say with the psalmist: "With you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light" (Psalm 36:9).
Pope John Paul II to Faith and Light pilgrims, Lourdes, Easter 2001
With all my affection, I invoke upon you, upon those who accompany you, and upon all who could not come, the strength of the Risen Lord, so that each of you may be able to continue with courage and joy in bearing witness to God's love in the world. May you, following the example of Bernadette, welcome and bear ever more fruit from the Good News, which our humanity so desperately needs!
Pope Benedict XVI to the General Assembly of Faith and Light, Lourdes, October 2008
The Pope rejoices deeply because throughout the world so many families join hands to support one another and together offer awaited testimony to the infinite value of every human life, even the most fragile. May each of you always be guided and sustained by the conviction that the disciples of Christ must, in their mission, express a love they have first drawn from the heart of the Savior.
Pope Francis, March 2013
The Church is called to go out from itself and head toward the peripheries—not only the geographic ones but also the existential: those of the mystery of sin, of suffering, of injustice, of ignorance, of every misery. When the Church does not go out to evangelize, it becomes self-referential and grows sick. A self-referential Church believes it possesses Jesus Christ and does not let him out. It saddens me to see so many closed parishes. We must go out, we must meet others and bring them the light and joy of our faith. We must always go out with the love and tenderness of God.
Pope Francis, October 4, 2013
The Christian adores Jesus; the Christian seeks Jesus; the Christian will know how to recognize the wounds of Jesus. And all of us here today must say: "These wounds must be heard!" But there is something else that gives us hope. Jesus is present in the Eucharist—here is the flesh of Jesus; Jesus is present among you, and the flesh of Jesus is the wounds of Jesus in these people.
Pope Francis, March 29, 2014
Here are two opposing cultures: the culture of encounter and the culture of exclusion, of prejudice. The sick or disabled person, beginning from their own fragility and limitation, can become a witness to encounter: an encounter with Jesus that opens us to life and faith, and an encounter with others, with community. Indeed, only those who recognize their own fragility, their own limits, can build fraternal and solidary relationships within the Church and in society.
Beniamino Gnappi, Fidenza - Kimata
I like going to Faith and Light because it's a kind of Jesus family that does lots of activities like games and meals. I go to Faith and Light because I'm a messenger of joy and I have a good heart. I go there too because I learned to love others the way he loved me.