At a time he was struggling with his faith and looking for answers about God, Luca Badetti returned from an event at L’Arche Chicago, a multicultural community where people with intellectual disabilities can live ordinary lives.
He decided to share his questions with his friend Jennifer who has down syndrome, hoping to receive words of wisdom to help him understand where God was in the midst of everything.
Before he could finish his sentence, she looked at him from behind her glasses and said, “I believe in you … I believe in you.” He never forgot that moment. It encouraged him to trust himself and to trust in God more.
The words became the title of his book, “I Believe in You,” a compilation of stories about how people with disabilities can widen our understanding of ourselves and of God. The book, which was recently published by New City Press, contains a forward by Jean Vanier, who founded L’Arche at his home in Trosly-Breuil France in 1964. In 55 years, it has become an international movement of 160 communities, 20 of them in the United States.
L’Arche communities provide homes and workplaces where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together as peers in a spirit of simplicity. They are inclusive communities of faith and friendship. “L’Arche” is French for “the ark,” referring to Noah’s ark, a symbol for refuge and the covenant between God and humanity.
“To believe actually means to trust,” says Dr. Badetti, a former Stamford resident who is the director of community life at L’Arche Chicago. “People journey through life, facing questions about who they really are and what they are here for, as well as questions about those they encounter day in and day out. My hope is this book will provide insights that help them believe in themselves and others. I invite them on a journey, page by page, grounded in stories about people with disabilities I’ve met in my community.”`
Dr. Badetti graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville with a degree in theology and communications and a minor in philosophy and mental health and human services. He received a master’s in clinical psychology from the Institute for Psychological Studies in Arlington, Virginia, and a doctorate in disability studies from the University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to his work at L’Arche, he teaches at Loyola University’s Institute for Pastoral Studies and at DePaul University’s Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies program.
He bases the reflections in his book on stories and experiences he has gathered while living in the L’Arche community, integrating them with insights from psychology, theology and the Gospels.
Dr. Badetti says that sharing simple activities with the core members of the community can be a very profound experience, whether it is going to the supermarket, preparing dinner or attending a concert. It is important, he says, to remember they are people and should not be defined by a clinical diagnosis.
“At dinner we chat with other another,” he said. “There is a humanness around the table. We talk about simple things like ‘Do you like the pasta?’ and ‘Please pass the water.’ We might even share a laugh about what happened that day. I think God is more present there than in our mental abstractions and intellectualism.”
He added that “We can hide behind thoughts and words, but it is more important to live from the heart. This is a great way of living in community with people who have been marginalized but are also very human. There is a beauty to becoming friends and hanging out with them or going on car rides or to a concert.”
One fellow named Ted loved Dunkin’ Donuts, and Dr. Badetti would often take him there, and although he was non-verbal, the occasion let them both communicate in a quiet way with each other.
After dinner, his group members light a candle in the living room and pray together. Community living, however, can present challenges, and there are moments of fatigue along with occasional disputes between core members.
L’Arche Chicago is a multi-cultural faith community with three homes. Its members have different beliefs and some have no religious background.
“The Divinity is in our humanity,” he said. “As Jean Vanier says, if people don’t believe in God but believe in other people, one day they might also believe in God. But if people believe in God but not other people, it can be a disaster.”
Born in Rome, Dr. Badetti attended middle school in Milan, and in 1998, his family moved to Stamford, and he graduated from Westhill High School. He went to the University of Connecticut for his freshman year but later transferred to Franciscan. While he was there, he began reading books by psychologist and priest Henri Nouwen and Jean Vanier. After visiting two L’Arche communities, he felt called to volunteer, so he went to the Massachusetts community outside of Boston and stayed for a year. He later worked at L’Arche in Rome and France, where Vanier started the first home.
“In my work, I promote personal wholeness and social transformation through the encounter with disability,” he says. “I do this through teaching, community work and consulting. In a society that emphasizes individualism and intellectual ability, people can be afraid of disability. It’s easy to hide behind ideas, self-reliance and achievement. I want to bridge the gap by showing how encountering disability can actually lead us to live more complete and connected lives from the heart.”
He and one of the residents named Mike began a national inclusion team for the 20 communities in L’Arche USA. They met to find ways to include the viewpoints of people with disabilities in determining how the communities function.
Dr. Badetti hopes his book will encourage people to open themselves up to those who are marginalized or who are different.
“When we believe in ourselves, we recognize our preciousness and also affirm the preciousness of others,” he said. “God is love, and whenever we love ourselves and others, we are living in God because the Divine is present whether we recognize it or not. I also believe there is truth in the fact that we can be healed by encountering the marginalized, and we can grow together.”
