Jean Vanier of L’Arche communities wins Templeton Prize

Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche network of communities, where those with and without developmental disabilities live together, has won the 2015 Templeton Prize.

A Roman Catholic layman, Vanier, 86, began L’Arche, French for “the Ark,” in northern France in 1964 when he invited two intellectually disabled men to live with him as friends. L’Arche has evolved into 147 communities in 35 countries. In addition, a support group for families of people with disabilities, known as Faith and Light, has spread to 82 countries.

“One can conceive of L’Arche and Faith and Light as living laboratories where Vanier essentially exposed his ideas to the most challenging test of all—real people, real problems, and real life,” said John Swinton, a professor at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland Divinity School, in nominating Vanier for the award.