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 an assistance to other parents who are crushed by their
suffering and their daily difficulties.
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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.
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.
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.
". . . 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, ablebodied
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.
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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.
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