By: Kevin Glackin-Coley

In October 1988 Dick Sutherland and I traveled to England and France together.  Dick wanted to visit some French assistants who had lived with him at the Farmhouse, and also to visit the Farmhouse’s House Responsible Anna Keating’s (now Keating-Fedders) family in England.

It was a tremendous trip, including time in London and Ipswich visiting Anna’s family, several days at the Canterbury L’Arche Community where we volunteered in their farm program and prepared a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner for the community.  Then we were off to Paris for a few days where we stayed with the Jesuit community, then to both the Trosly and Ambleteuse L’Arche communities to visit the assistants who had spent some time living with Dock at the Farmhouse.

A highlight for me was our first evening at Le Grand Source, the guest house at the Trosly community.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by being in a country where, to quote Steve Martin, they had a “different word for everything.”  Everything seemed so foreign to me.  Then I saw Dick sitting on his bed, reading (in his own way with the page upside down) the welcome documents which of course were in French.  He looked up at me and said as he often did “Hello, Kevin Coley” and I realized Dick felt at home because he was in L’Acthe, and that the common way of life found in L’Arche Communities throughout the world rendered the language barrier meaningless.

At that moment I realized it wasn’t clear who was accompanying who on the trip, but that regardless I was deeply grateful to be there with Dick.