THE CHARTER OF FAITH AND LIGHT
Faith and Light was born of a desire to help people with an intellectual
disability and their families find their place within the Church and society.
This was the main purpose of the organized pilgrimage to Lourdes at Easter of
1971. Twenty or thirty people from the Protestant tradition were among those who
participated in this Catholic event.
In order that the gifts of this pilgrimage would not be lost, it was necessary
for the participants to be members of a community that brought together people
with an intellectual disability*, their parents and friends, especially young
people. Following this event, which was a time of great blessings, a great
number of communities maintained and deepened the links that had been created
between their members. In the course of the years, other communities were
created throughout the world, developing in different Christian denominations.
Thus, since its inception, the movement has been increasingly aware of its
specific vocation within the Churches and in society, and of its ecumenical
mission.
I. THE VOCATION OF FAITH AND LIGHT
Faith and Light is a community movement. At the heart of these communities are
people with a more or less serious intellectual disability: children,
adolescents or adults. They are surrounded by their family and friends,
especially young people.
Faith and Light gives to persons with an intellectual disability the possibility
of recognizing and using their gifts and discovering the joy of friendship.
To the parents, Faith and Light gives support in their trials and helps them to
better appreciate the inner beauty of their children. A number of them, in turn,
become a source of strength and assistance to other parents who are crushed by
their suffering and their daily difficulties.
The brothers and sisters of the people with an intellectual disability are
called to appreciate that a person with a disability can be a source of life and
unity; if this person disrupts their life, he/she can also transform and
transfigure it.
Thanks to the person with an intellectual disability, the friends also come to
understand that there is another world, a world other than that of competition,
money and material pleasures; those who are weak and poor invite them into a
world of tenderness and fidelity, of listening and of faith.
The communities are not residential, but rather communities whose members meet
at regular intervals and create between themselves links which become deeper and
deeper through the sharing of their difficulties and their hope: sharing times
of festivity, prayer and the Eucharist and/or other religious celebrations.
These communities are usually made up of about thirty people.
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* Each time the expression person with a disability is mentioned, it always
means the person with an intellectual disability. This term is used throughout
this document. There may be changes in a language according to different periods
and cultures. Each country should adopt a term that is generally acceptable as
long as it means to show respect for the person with an intellectual disability.
1. A community that meets
Each meeting includes a time of getting together to talk and to listen to one
another. The essential thing is to form personal relationships within which we
discover the suffering and the gifts of one another, where we learn to know
someone else by name. Sharing in small groups enables each person to express
him/herself through words or other forms of communication, e.g. drawings,
modeling, mimes or gestures. In this way we seek to carry one another's burdens,
to encourage and support each other and to respond to the needs of each one.
Through friendship, made up of tenderness and fidelity, we become signs of the
love of God for one another.
2. A community of fiesta and celebration
From faithful friendship springs the joy characteristic of the Faith and Light
community. It is God who calls us together and enables us to discover the
covenant that unites us: we are no longer alone. Meetings are characterized by
moments of joy when we sing or dance or share a meal. From time to time a day of
celebration enables us to invite guests who are moved by the discovery of the
capacity of someone with an intellectual disability to create this joyful
atmosphere. When it comes to celebration the person with an intellectual
disability is often less disabled than others, because he/she is not imprisoned
by convention, worry about efficiency or fear of what others may think. People
with disabilities live more simply in the present moment; their humility and
transparency make them naturally disposed towards community festivity.
But in the community we must not forget those who are not able to enter into the
celebration and shut in with their sadness and their fears. They also have their
place at the heart of Faith and Light. They need to receive special attention so
that gradually they may know the joy of heart that Jesus came to bring us.
3. A community of prayer
Jesus came to announce the Good News to the poor. They are loved by the Father.
Jesus gave His life for his flock. He feeds them with his Body. That is why the
personal meeting and the celebration find their culmination in prayer, in union
with God and in the celebration of the Eucharist and/or in other religious
celebrations.
4. A community of friendship and faithfulness
Friendship deepens through time and presence. Between the monthly gatherings the
members of the community choose to spend time together in smaller groups or just
meeting one-to-one. They share stories, fears, dreams, hope, prayer, fun,
service with others, a meal, and other activities which nurture friendship: it
is “ the time of fidelity “, also called the "fourth time".
5. A community for taking root and integrating
Persons with an intellectual disability play an essential role in the human
community, society and Churches. In order to exercise their gifts and to grow as
persons, they need to fully belong to and to participate in these, giving and
receiving, in the words of Saint Paul:
". . . the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and
those members of the body that we think are less honorable we clothe with great
honor . . ." (I Cor: 12, 22-23).
Faith and Light takes great care in integrating its communities and their
members in the activities of society, their Churches, Christian communities,
parishes… This vocation for taking root, which lies with every person and every
community, leads us to discover also our ecumenical vocation and mission.
Today, Faith and Light communities have their roots in different Christian
traditions: Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant. Most often the members
of a community belong to the same Church, but some communities are
interdenominational.
Christians of different denominations are called to find a deep expression of
their faith and their love of Jesus within their own Church. At community
meetings, they seek how they may worship together, united as brothers and
sisters in Jesus Christ. All of them are called to discover and appreciate with
joy the truly Christian values that have their source in their common patrimony.
Faith and Light believes that the person who is weak and disabled can become a
source of unity in society and in each Church and also between Churches and
nations.
In families where there is long-standing disagreement, which has never been
resolved, reconciliation is often brought about through a serious crisis.
Grievances are forgotten and hard feelings break down. Communion in the Cross
prepares a resurrection in rediscovered brotherly love. Thus it may be between
Christians of different denominations who meet around the weakest and most
rejected person whose very life may be threatened.
Lack of humility and of simplicity of heart is a serious obstacle to communion
between Christians. Persons with an intellectual disability, by the very
radiance of their poverty, lead Christians of different denominations into the
beatitude of poverty of heart and thus allow them to rediscover the spirit of
God.
II. THE INSPIRATION OF FAITH AND LIGHT
1. Each person is loved by God
Faith and Light is founded on the belief that each person with an intellectual
disability is fully a person with all the rights of a human being: above all the
right to be loved, recognized and respected for himself or herself and in the
choices he/she makes; the right also to receive whatever help is necessary in
order to grow at every level, spiritual and human. Faith and Light also believes
that every person, able-bodied or disabled, is equally loved by God and that
Jesus lives in them, even if the person concerned can barely express this. Faith
and Light believes that every person, even the most disabled, is called to
deepen his or her life in Jesus, to receive all the spiritual richness from
his/her Church, sacraments, liturgical tradition, etc. He/she is called to be a
source of grace and peace for the whole community, and also for the Churches and
for all humanity.
Faith and Light believes in the words of Saint Paul:
"God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is
weak in the world to shame the strong;" (1. Cor: 1, 27).
2. The need for a community
In order to live his/her faith, everyone, even the person with the most severe
disability, needs to meet real friends in order to create together a warm
environment in which each one may grow in faith and love. Those who come to
Faith and Light to meet people with intellectual disabilities must come in a
spirit of receiving from them their specific gifts while sharing their own gifts
with them.
In front of a severely disfigured person whose words and gestures are often
difficult to understand or even non-existent, the spontaneous reaction is often
to look the other way and flee. This reaction emerges often out of
misunderstanding and fear but it can also reveal egoism and hardness of the
heart. To create a real and liberating relationship with people with
intellectual disabilities, "our hearts of stone must be changed into hearts of
flesh". It is only Jesus and his Holy Spirit who can transform our hearts to
enable us to welcome the poor and rejected person and to recognize them in all
their human reality and spiritual depth. This transformation of love will lead
us to recognize the face of Jesus in ourselves and in the other. We are led
along this path of conversion and of the faithfulness in love by the witness of
Mary. Mary and the disciple whom Jesus loved, present with the suffering Jesus,
show us a way of living this same loving and faithful presence with our friends
in the community. Mary teaches us, like a caring mother, how to carry human
suffering together and to live out of the resurrection.
In spite of and through suffering, the community is a place of peace and joy,
mediator or revealer of the gifts that God has given to those with an
intellectual disability: that is their capacity for welcome and for love, their
simplicity and their rejection of conventions. In a society based on usefulness
and power, people with disabilities may not be efficient but they are
nonetheless prophetic in the area of the heart and of tenderness, and in what is
essential in the human person. And so those who are poor evangelize the rest of
us.
3. Accompaniment toward a deeper human maturity
In order to help people with intellectual disabilities to find peace of heart,
hope and the desire to grow, it is certainly necessary to see them in the light
of the Gospel, but also to understand their human needs in their suffering, and
to know how to respond. For this, we must gradually acquire human experience and
the necessary knowledge. Those who are involved in Faith and Light must become
competent in the way they accompany people who suffer or are in difficulties.
III. FAITH AND LIGHT ACTIVITIES
1. A community movement
Faith and Light is a community movement. The essential lies in the links of
trust and in friendship created between its members, links having their source
in Jesus and reaching fulfillment in Him.
2. Meetings and pilgrimages
The communities may have many activities other than the regular meetings. They
arise according to the needs and creativity of individuals and the inspiration
from God. Among these initiatives are holiday camps, retreats and
pilgrimages....
On the other hand, certain communities organize means of welcoming and animating
activities for people with intellectual disabilities to enable their parents to
have a rest.
There are some activities that are not the province of Faith and Light: for
example, the creation or management of institutions, residential homes, schools,
workshops, or “ holiday homes.” These we leave to appropriately qualified
associations, which could be inspired by Faith and Light.
3. Cooperation with others
While keeping the spirit and mission of Faith and Light, it is important that
Faith and Light communities cooperate as much as possible with other
associations and movements that are at the service of people with an
intellectual disability and their families.
4. One world-wide family
Faith and Light communities across the world form the branches of one big
international family. Within each continent, zone, country, we carry one
another’s burdens, sufferings and joys. Solidarity is expressed by sharing
financial support for the life of Faith and Light but also by sharing the
benefits of their particular gifts, their friendship, the wisdom of their
experience, and their faithfulness in prayer. As members of a single family,
communities seek to live in love and unity.
* *
*
A Charter was proposed at the General Assembly on 26 October 1980 (Lourdes). It
was adopted provisionally for a one-year period of study and modification by
National Coordinators. The charter was unanimously adopted by the General
Assembly in 1982 (Wetherby, England). Further modifications were adopted by the
General Assemblies in 1984 (Rome), 1986 (Santo Domingo), 1990 (Edinburgh), 1994
(Warsaw), 1998 (Quebec) and 2002 (Rome). The Charter is adopted and amended by a
majority of 75 %.
Note: The St Paul quotations used above are drawn from the NRSV of the New
Testament.
© Faith and Light USA West