Fifty years ago, Jean Vanier founded L’Arche, a new kind of Christian community which would welcome people with severe intellectual difficulties in a shared life of freedom and mutual respect. A year later, the Second Vatican Council released its vision of a Church which would put society’s weakest and most marginalised members at its heart.

Since then, L’Arche has become a world-renowned symbol of compassion and hope, its members drawn from different faiths and none. But what has become of the radical promise of Vatican II, in a world that continues to value success and power at the expense of the poor and powerless?

Drawing on half a lifetime of experience in L’Arche, Jean Vanier identifies seven paths towards societies which are more truly inclusive of all their members, whatever their weaknesses and strengths.

From humiliation to humility

From conformity to conscience

From exclusion to encounter

From power to authority

From isolation to community

From strength to vulnerability

From secret to mystery

Jean Vanier addresses himself particularly to the contemporary crisis in the Catholic Church. But these paths of hope are relevant to any society, from families to faith communities and wider social organisations.

Signs of the Times is inspiring/essential reading for anyone concerned with spiritual values and social justice in today’s troubled world.