News
The World Council of Churches (WCC) welcomed representatives of the organization Faith and Light to explore together how the WCC can help more people be enriched by the gifts of those with intellectual disabilities.
Faith and Light is an inter-denominational Christian association that assists those living with intellectual disabilities, and their friends and families, by fostering friendship, prayer, celebration and sharing. Founded by Jean Vanier and Marie-Hélène Mathieu in 1971, the association consists of 1,612 communities organized into 50 provinces in 81 countries.
Bishop Stein Reinertsen, from the Lutheran Church of Norway (one of four global delegates representing churches) and Ghislain du Chéné, past international coordinator of Faith and Light, met with World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and other WCC staff.
Tveit said: “We are committed to work against the stigma associated with intellectual disability. We need to strengthen the working relationship with Faith and Light and to strive for church and society to acknowledge and be enriched by the gifts that every person with intellectual disability brings to the world”.
