L’Arche International is a Federation working in 38 countries worldwide, made up of 156 Communities and 26 community projects.  

L’Arche is a living witness to the cultural and spiritual heritage of the world, with each Community seeking to embody L’Arche’s values, rooted in the Christian tradition, within the diversity of local customs and religious expressions. They are all built on mutual relationships between people with and without disability, and are driven by the vision for a world where everyone belongs. 

 

L'Arche was founded in France in 1964 by the Canadian Jean Vanier* (1929-2019).  

Vanier invited two men living in an overcrowded institution for people with learning disabilities, Raphaël Simi and Philippe Seux, to set up a home with him in a small house in the village of Trosly-Breuil (northern France). They were soon joined by other people with and without disabilities. 

Together, they developed L’Arche’s distinctive model of community life which, from 1969, would extend across France and around the world.

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*In 2020, L'Arche discovered, after a thorough and independent investigation, that Jean Vanier had exercised a spiritual and psychological hold on several non-disabled adult women for many years, leading to inappropriate sexual relationships initiated by him. L'Arche publicised and condemned these actions.