The Templeton Foundation deserves considerable praise for giving its annual award, the Templeton Prize (and here ), to the Canadian philosopher and humanitarian, Jean Vanier (and here). The prize was established in 1972 and is given to a living person who “has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works."
Vanier is a prolific writer, but he is most known for his founding of L’Arche. In Wikipedia, L’Arche is described as follows:
L'Arche is an International Federation dedicated to the creation and growth of homes, programs, and support networks with people who have intellectual disabilities. It was founded in 1964 when Jean Vanier, the son of Canadian Governor General Georges Vanier and Pauline Vanier, welcomed two men with disabilities into his home in the town of Trosly-Breuil, France. Today, it is an international organisation operating 147 communities in 35 countries, and on all five continents.
I first encountered Vanier’s writings twenty years ago when I read his overpowering volume on residents of the L’Arche community entitled, Man and Woman He Made Them. The Amazon description says of the book: “When Vanier speaks of the cry for love within a person who is disabled, he draws the wider parallel of that same search within every man and woman; the fragility and vulnerability of each person at the level of the heart and in the search for relationship.”
The Templeton Foundation hit it out of the park with this award.
