Tagged: Cathy Brady
The Old Hen
Janet Evaline Moore, founder of L’Arche Cape Breton, died peacefully last night at her home in Orangedale, two days before her 63rd birthday.
Tom and Ann Gunn and Janet Moore
Tom and Ann Gunn invited Janet to live with their family in 1983, marking the start of an intentional community that is now home to some 25 Core Members and a varied group of assistants from Cape Breton and around the world.
Janet Moore was a gentle, funny, loving woman, with an out-sized capacity to move and inspire people around her. She and her long-time friends, Cathy Brady and Mary LeBlanc, the Old Hens, enlivened events at L’Arche with a running commentary from the sidelines — a cross between a comical Greek chorus and a kinder, gentler version of the Muppets’ Statler and Waldorf.
Janet adored the Cape Breton singer Rita MacNeil, who graciously hosted a 60th birthday party for her at Rita’s Tea Room in 2007.
Cathy Brady, Rita MacNeil, and Janet Moore
Over the last two years, Janet underwent the steep decline that often overtakes people with Down Syndrome in their 50s and 60s. She spent her last days at The Vinyard, a L’Arche residence in Orangedale, surrounded by friends who stroked her hair, held her hands, and sang quietly to her.
“Our community is making a significant passage as we say goodbye to Janet,” Community Leader Jenn Power wrote in an email to L’Arche friends early this morning. “We know life will feel different now, but we know just as surely that Janet’s faithfulness to the mission of L’Arche will continue to be our example.”
Mary LeBlanc and Janet Moore
It is difficult to overstate the impact Janet had on everyone at L’Arche, or the sadness that will be felt there, and among the far flung diaspora of former L’Arche assistants around the world.
The wake will take place from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm on Janet’s birthday, Saturday, at The Vineyard in Orangedale. The funeral will be at 2 p.m., Sunday, in the L’Arche Chapel at Iron Mines, with a reception to follow in Orangedale.
A “cure” for Down syndrome? — Reader feedback #6
This thread (starting here and here) questioning efforts to “cure” Down syndrome began with a quick email from Jenn Power, community leader at L’Arche Cape Breton, mother of identical twins with Down syndrome, and—disclosure—Contrarian‘s daughter-in-law.
At Contrarian’s request, she has elaborated:
In the end, for me, this all comes back to people. Josh, Jacob, Mary, Cathy, Kate, Janet…these people have Down Syndrome. These people are my family, my friends, my teachers. Without the benefit of that extra chromosome, they would not be who they are. Their intellectual “impairment” gives them an insight and an emotional intelligence and maturity that I can only aspire to. They do not need a needle in their brain to make them more functional, to help them find their car keys. What they need is a society that values what they have to offer. I would like to think that I can be a part of creating that society
Full post after the jump.
Does Down syndrome need to be “cured?” – reader feedback #1
Cathy Brady
Many readers have responded thoughtfully, and at length, to our post about Jenn Power’s reaction to news that Stanford University researchers had made headway toward a potential treatment for the cognitive impairment that is one feature of Down syndrome.
I’ve received a wide range of views from parents and researchers, about both Down syndrome and autism. Thanks to all who contributed.
Contrarian is on the road with limited Internet access. I’ll be posting these as I can over the next few days, more or less in the order I received them.
Several are quite long, and deserve to be read in their entirety, so look for an illustrative excerpt, with the longer submission after the jump.
