Dorothy Coughlin, L’Arche Portland founder, was 12 years old when she became an advocate for the disability community. Growing up with a sister with severe epilepsy and intellectual disabilities, Coughlin witnessed the overcrowded environment and the physical and mental abuse many faced inside institutions like the now defunct Fairview Training Center.
“I remember, I stood up at the meeting at Fairview and spoke out,” Coughlin said at the event. “There were all these people there and there was a strong sense of justice, that we wanted people to have a fuller life.”
Her passion for justice led her to joining the deinstitutionalization movement in the ‘70s and advocating for disability inclusion in the Catholic Church. Now, over four decades later, her mission continues with L’Arche Portland, a non-profit organization focused on bringing people with and without intellectual disabilities together.
On Sept. 7, L’Arche@UP hosted its first event of the semester, “Storytelling with Dorothy.” The gathering was held inside of the St. Mary’s Student Center where students and campus volunteers joined L’Arche Portland to hear about the partnership between the non-profit and the university.
L’Arche@UP began in the ‘80s when the group outgrew its previous meeting place and partnered with the university to host events on campus. At its height, the gatherings brought in over 80 attendees, a mix of both community members and student volunteers.
At the event, Coughlin focused on the community aspect of the organization’s history and the ways members and volunteers have personally grown from being involved with L’Arche.
“When you are in community, you come very close to the deepest part of who you are as a person,” Coughlin said at the event.
This sentiment is supported by senior psychology major and L’Arche volunteer, Bridgette Fox. Fox says that the L’Arche community is a place of belonging unlike any other.
“The sense of community that you find, you don't find anywhere else, and it is truly like you feel at home,” Fox said. “Everybody's so welcoming, everybody is so kind. I forget that I'm working when I'm there.”
In the past, L’Arche@UP, formally called Religious Experience with Exceptional People (REX), met every month. At these monthly meetings, students could volunteer and participate in faith-driven activities, according to L’Arche Portland’s Director of Community Life Jessica Bridges.
“Now, L’Arche is a space to explore spirituality or spiritual journeys together, so a little bit more broad but still with that kind of spiritual intention,” Bridges said.
Since the pandemic, the L’Arche@UP gatherings have decreased to once a semester, but the organization is hoping to bring the number back up by spring.
“We have a lot of different ways that that partnership looks like, where folks have been folded in from the UP community into L’Arche and vice versa,” Bridges said. “But in particular, there's a special thing about people coming together on a regular basis. We've been in a once-a- semester kind of frequency, but that doesn't build a tight-knit community.”
Coughlin finished her storytelling by highlighting how L’Arche Portland is a place for all and encouraged attendees to spread the word about L’Arche@UP. She expressed her desire for the community to grow and flourish.
“[L’Arche Portland is] the kind of community you hunger for everyone to experience,” Coughlin said.
To end the storytelling part of the event, Bridges invited everyone to participate in a L’Arche staple: The sacred circle.
Here, everyone went around and expressed their impressions of the event and their desires for future events. Some said they were grateful to make new friends, others felt hopeful about the program's future.
To learn more about L’Arche@UP and how you can get involved, students can contact the Moreau Center for Service and Justice.
Samantha Zavala is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at zavala27@up.edu
