In 1968 Camille and Gerard Profit, a French couple with two little boys having severe mental and physical disabilities, wanted to go to Lourdes with their diocesan pilgrimage. They were refused. They were told that their children would disturb the other pilgrims. They felt so hurt and disappointed that they decided to take their family alone to Lourdes. The experience was not a happy one. Hotels did not want them as guests. The personnel at the hotel where they stayed asked them to eat in their rooms. On the streets and at the Grotto, they heard mutterings of 'with children like that, one should stay at home.' They caught the stares that conveyed the same message.
Bach home, they had a friend who loved children with developmental disabilities, like their own. The friend, Marie-Helene Mathieu, also knew how to listen to the parents. One day Marie-Helene, Camille, Gerard and Jean Vanier (who founded a community with persons with developmental disabilities called l'Arche in Trosly, France) were driving together in a little car towards Paris. The parents told their tale and their friends' hearts were moved.
An idea was born. Why not invite some other parents to come to Lourdes with their children who have developmental disabilities, together with many friends, so that they would all be together? Then even if someone stared or made nasty comments it wouldn't hurt as much, and they wouldn't be alone nor feel rejected.
So the planning began. Each child or adult with developmental disabilities would be with at least one parent and one friend and groups of about 30 persons. These groups would meet together regularly, to plan their trip, to pray and to enjoy each other's company. No one would arrive at the airport alone or afraid. Each would be part of a small community. They began calling the pilgrimage a Faith and Light Pilgrimage and the groups bore that name also.
During the Holy Week of 1971 they came, 12,000 people from 18 different countries, one-third of them with developmental disabilities. Lourdes was forever changed, as well as the hearts of the parents who no longer felt isolated and apart. The people with developmental disabilities no longer felt rejected and alone. Their friends, many of them young, discovered that persons with disabilities don't just need to be helped or given something, they also have much love to give and gifts to share.
Jean and Marie-Helene were the founders but not the inventors of Faith and Light. The inspiration surely came from the Holy Spirit. When the pilgrimage was over leaders of the group said to Jean Vanier, 'we can't stop now...don't let it end...' , Jean said "Go back to your homes and do whatever the Spirit leads you to do. Go back with your little light and light other little lights all over the world." This was the birth of Faith and Light. The groups returned to their homes and continued to meet regularly.
Faith and Light was born out of the experience of pilgrimage. Periodically, the communities feel the need to go on pilgrimages together to Holy places to renew themselves, to give witness, to deepen their faith, to strengthen their bonds and to give thanks. These pilgrimages are organized at the local, regional, national and international levels.