Just out of college, James Schreiner was serving at a soup
kitchen in Chicago when he overheard a homeless man talking
about his artistic skills. Schreiner asked the man, named
Robert, if he would draw him a picture. Surprised but visibly
delighted at the request, Robert came back a half-hour later
with an intricate sketch of an infant cradled in a pair of
hands.
We often hear that love is action; love is placing food or
money into the outstretched hands of the poor. But, as
Schreiner recognized at that moment, love also is the
humility and openness to receive the gifts of others.
The fruits of shared time
Both of Schreiner’s parents were active in the Catholic faith
and spent their lives serving people with intellectual
disabilities. His father taught special education, and his
mother taught special education majors at Alvernia, a
Franciscan university in Reading, Pa., near the family’s home
in Lancaster County.
“My parents taught me to appreciate people of all abilities
and to have a great value for diversity,” said Schreiner, who
at just 30 years old has a gentle, sage-like presence and
ever-present smile. “They always talked about respecting
people of different cultures and with all kinds of traits.”
As a 14-year-old, Schreiner volunteered with his dad at a day
camp for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It was
an experience that stuck with the teenager. He still
remembers two of the campers, Johnny and Tim, “who found such
delight in simple things, like going swimming,” he said.
It helped him recognize something he would come to understand
more deeply later: “The only way you can really grow in
awareness of people who are different from you is to spend
time with them. It doesn’t come through reading. True
gratitude for people comes through sharing days, sharing
moments.”
Though moved by his time at the camp, Schreiner initially
felt called to minister to the poor, and he volunteered
regularly at a soup kitchen while earning a dual bachelor’s
degree in psychology and theology at Alvernia University.
For a while, he thought he might have a vocation to the
religious life. “But God makes a vocation clear eventually,”
said Schreiner, and he realized that path was not for him.
Instead, after graduation he participated in the Franciscan
Outreach Volunteer Program in Chicago. Based on the values of
service, spirituality and simple living, volunteers live
together and work with the homeless, poor and marginalized.
About halfway through his one-year commitment, Schreiner met
religious sisters who spoke to him about
L’Arche. Founded by French Catholic Jean Vanier, L’Arche
is an interdenominational Christian community where people
with and without intellectual disabilities share their lives
together. The more he learned, the more he was drawn to the
simplicity, communal living and sense of mutuality among
members.
Founder of L’Arche wins Templeton Prize
However, after four months at a L’Arche home in Clinton,
Iowa, Schreiner knew it wasn’t the right fit. “Although it
was a wonderful experience, I felt I couldn’t sustain the
number of hours required there,” he said.
Moving back to Pennsylvania, Schreiner lived with the
Servants of Charity for about 10 months while volunteering
with the Bernadine Franciscan Sisters. One of the charisms of
the Servants of Charity is supporting men with intellectual
disabilities, and he soon felt pulled back to L’Arche.
Submitting his application to L’Arche for the second time, he
expressed his need for balance so he could sustain a
long-term commitment to the program.
In July 2011, he joined the L’Arche Greater Washington, D.C.,
program, which has two homes in Arlington and two in Adams
Morgan.
Not a servant but a brother
In his Arlington residence, where he lives with seven other
people, Schreiner has found not only balance and the fruits
of living in community, but also the opportunity to fulfill
“a calling to be not so much a servant but a brother,” he
said.
The term “brother” captures what authentic community means,
said Schreiner. “A family is so much more than who you are
related to.”
Members commit to a home for one year at a time, but
Schreiner has no plans to leave soon. “I’m very much open to
whatever God’s will is.”
The days at the home are simple. “We just live life together,
share meals,” he said. “Mother Teresa has expressed it, Jean
Vanier has expressed it – this idea that we offer humble
gestures of love, not anything elaborate, and that love is
revealed through a commitment to relationships.”
The residence is composed of men and women from different
faiths and includes core members – those with intellectual
disabilities – and assistants, like Schreiner, who have
backgrounds in everything from social work to economics.
Assistants work full-time for L’Arche. They distribute
medications, transport core members to their day programs and
help oversee core members’ finances. In their role as
community members, they buy groceries, cook dinner, cut the
grass and lead regular prayers. There’s also time to pursue
personal interests and nourishment outside the community, and
Schreiner attends daily Mass at Our Lady, Queen of Peace
Church in Arlington.
Schreiner hesitates to make a distinction between assistant
and core member, preferring to call all “members of
community.”
“Living in community has taught me that we are much more
united than divided,” he said. “Our common humanity and the
things that we long for become very evident when you live
together.”
While all residents support one another, each core member is
paired with an assistant. The two “accompaniers” have a
special bond, said Schreiner, whose accompanier’s name is
Fritz Schloss.
“I support Fritz with finances and medical needs — and
he teaches me how to live one day at a time and to marvel at
the beauty of creation, especially flowers.”
All of his housemates have taught him lessons, including the
importance of silence and solitude, of sitting together
without cramming the quiet with words.
Like with most new endeavors, Schreiner encountered some
difficulties when he first came to Arlington. “I put a lot of
pressure on myself to learn things quickly, and I was
intimidated by driving in the area and by cooking,” he said.
But the community supported him and cheered him on, and he
soon could tackle the often-frenzied D.C. traffic and cook
meals without anxiety.
There’s also been the challenges inherent in communal life.
“There are times we have to sacrifice preferences for the
sake of another,” said Schreiner. “It’s just like living in a
family.”
Yet all of his experiences the past four years have been
blessings.
“L’Arche is not just a group home with compassionate
assistance,” said Schreiner. “Our core members really have
the gifts that are teaching us what it means to live life.”
His prayer is that more people will come to know these gifts.
“It seems that most people are very kind toward those with
intellectual disabilities; they say, ‘Hi,’ and hold a door
for them,” Schreiner said. “But what if they said, ‘Wow, this
person can actually teach me what it means to be present or
what it means to forgive or what it means to be generous or
thoughtful or creative.”
“They’ve taught me so much about the beauty of life and God’s
love. I would hope that more people can experience that.”
