Author's Note:As this article was already in production with the publisher, the leadership of L'Arche International announced the conclusions of an independent inquiry into credible allegations of emotional and sexual abuse by Jean Vanier of several adult women (without developmental disabilities). For all of us who are involved in the work of L'Arche, the revelation of these events was shocking and very much in conflict with our public perception of Jean Vanier's personhood. Consequently, the following article now functions as a kind of swan song to scholars’ initial appropriation of Vanier's legacy, one that upheld his writings and life with great enthusiasm and with little or no concerns. I ask readers to keep this context in mind as they read the article; doubtlessly, if it were written after these revelations, the article's central argument would be articulated very differently. To state the obvious, scholars will now need to be much more critical about Vanier himself. But L'Arche must go on, for its spirit is embodied in the life of numerous core members, their families, friends, and assistants, spread around the world in more than 150 locations. Fundamentally, the work of L'Arche is the work of the gospel, a proclamation that all people are created in the image of God with invaluable gifts to be nurtured by, and shared with, their communities.

Abstract: Through the writings of Jean Vanier, this paper encourages Catholic theologians to examine critically their theological sources and their own rhetoric for the context of developmental disabilities. Specifically, this thought experiment is an invitation for the Catholic academy to consider how its theologies of charity can assist the church to reflect on its pastoral ministry to people with developmental disabilities. Some Catholic discourse is built on an assumed one-directional concept of charity that emphasizes the agency and gifts of the giver over the receiver. Such a one-sided model of hospitality tends to emphasize the giver as the person without developmental disabilities, whereas the person with disabilities is described as the receiver of hospitality; their own gifts and agency thereby are either unacknowledged or downplayed. This paper argues, instead, that Catholic theologies of charity, particularly regarding developmental disabilities, should be built on a mutuality that affirms each person's agency to be both a giver and a receiver of charity.