This interview was first published in the February 1, 2002 edition of the Catholic Herald

In the early 1960s a young philosophy teacher from one of Canada's most distinguished families gave up his job and moved to France. He had no idea what he was going to do there. Just an itching notion that he wanted to "follow Jesus and discover the message of the Gospel".

He bought a ramshackle house in Trosly-Breuil, a windswept village 50 miles north of Paris. There was no electricity, no toilet and one tap. An old family friend, a Dominican called Fr Thomas Philippe, lived in the village. The priest asked the teacher to join him on a visit to a local institution for mentally handicapped men, where he worked as chaplain. The young man knew nothing about people with disabilities. He was shocked, incensed and inspired by what he saw in the home.