Our Community

Who We Are

We are people with and without disabilities sharing life in a community of faith. Mutual relationships and trust in God are at the heart of our life together. We seek to build a world that recognizes the unique value of every person and our need for one another.

About our homes
Our spiritual life
History of our community





“"My life is to live with them -- to be with those who are fragile, vulnerable and weak. I'm not sure that we can really understand the message of Jesus if we haven't listened to the weak...we can love people who have been pushed aside, humiliated, seen as having no value. And then we see that they are changed. And at the same time, we discover that we too are broken, that we have our handicaps. And our handicaps are around about elitism, about power, around feeling that value is just to have power."”

-- Jean Vanier
    Founder of L'Arche


Life at L'Arche

a poem by Pat Felt, 2007

I’ve been with L'Arche for 32 years
Going on to 33
Longer than the  institution
My life at L'Arche is like Heaven
I wouldn’t trade it for an institution
L'Arche is my home
And will be
‘Til the day I die.
I’d like friends and neighbors to know
Living at L'Arche is like Heaven.
I Know I have Diabetes
But someday I’ll be cured.
I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

Pat Felt is a founding core person of L'Arche Syracuse.  She came to the community on March 3, 1975 and passed away on January 1, 2010, surrounded by her L'Arche family and friends.

“Growth begins when we begin to accept our own weakness.”

-- Jean Vanier