The secret of L'Arche is relationship: meeting people, not through the filters of certitudes, ideologies, idealism or judgments, but heart to heart; listening to people with their pain, their joy, their hope, their history, listening to their heart beats. 

Called by the late Pope John Paul II a “providential seed of the civilization of love,” L’Arche is a sign of hope in a divided world.” 

L’Arche enables people with and without disabilities to share their lives in communities of faith and friendship. Community members are transformed through relationships of mutuality, respect, and companionship as they live, work, pray, and play together.

In these ways, L’Arche USA gives witness to the vision that people of differing intellectual capacity, religion, and culture can come together in unity, faithfulness and reconciliation. While some of our communities were founded in the Roman Catholic Church tradition, today L’Arche USA communities are ecumenical and welcome people of all faiths.

L’Arche USA is part of the International Federation of L’Arche Communities. L’Arche International serves as the umbrella organization to nine zones around the world.