French Canadian Jean Vanier, Founder of L'Arche, Wins 2015 Templeton Prize

LONDON, March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche, a revolutionary international network of communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together as peers, has won the 2015 Templeton Prize.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150304/732383 )

The announcement was made at a news conference at the British Academy, 11 Carlton House Terrace in London today, attended by Jean Vanier.

L'Arche fosters two-way relationships where those who help are transformed by those they encounter. Jean Vanier discovered that those people society typically considers the weakest enable the strong to recognise and welcome their own vulnerability.

Vanier, 86, supports a culture of belonging and social justice. He encourages and nurtures dialogue and unity among Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and other faiths through lectures, conferences and retreats around the world. Works include more than 30 books translated into 29 languages.

Valued at £1.1 million ($1.7 million or €1.5 million), the Templeton Prize is one of the world's largest annual awards given to an individual and honours a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension. The Prize will be awarded on 18th May at the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London.

Established in 1972 by the late global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the Templeton Prize is a cornerstone of the John Templeton Foundation's international efforts to serve as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality.

The news conference will be webcast live on http://www.templetonprize.org with French simultaneous translation. Questions for the Laureate can be submitted via the webcast. Video highlights will be available from this site shortly afterwards.

Images are available from http://filetransfer.ctn.co.uk/login.aspx username: tp2015 password: accessTP2015

Broadcast quality event video is available from https://redrobot.filecamp.com/public/files/27ng-lscakitk

Editors' Notes 

The qualities sought in a Templeton Prize nominee include creativity, innovation, rigour and impact. The judges seek, above all, a substantial record of achievement that highlights or exemplifies one of the various ways in which human beings express their yearning for spiritual progress.

London Press Office Contacts:
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Juliet Godfrey t: +44-(0)20-7395-8931  m: +44-(0)7900-246-376   e: juliet.godfrey@ctn.co.uk
Don Lehr, Nolan/Lehr Group, Public Affairs Consultant, Templeton Prize: t: +1-212-967-8200  m: +1-917-304-4058  e: dblehr@cs.com