The Face of Friendship

The Face of Friendship, by Bill Clarke SJ, foreword by Jean Vanier and letters from Louisa Blair, Novalis, 2004.

This beautiful story of a remark able friendship and the community of radical welcome in which it was situated will touch and nourish any reader.

Bill Clarke is a wise, much-loved and sought-after spiritual guide. Those who have the good fortune to know his calm, listening presence may be surprised that here Bill speaks of his own journey at times, giving us privileged glimpses of the pain, fear and challenges into which his friendship with Byron Dunn drew him, and the personal integration and freedom that were its fruit for him. The book is especially a tribute to Byron Dunn, and above all, a story of mutual transformation.

For 12 years Bill and Byron shared not only daily life together in the Ignatius Farm Community in Guelph, Ontario, but also a small bedroom off the kitchen of the old farmhouse. When Byron arrived he had recently served time for attempted murder. He was a frightening, angry, terribly disfigured, sick man with an alcohol addiction that wreaked havoc not only in his own life but also among those around him in the community. Turbulent though their friendship often was, the two grew to enjoy each other's company and to share a deep commitment to each other. Much of this transformation happened over frequent games of cribbage and on periodic fishing trips.

Into the story of this friendship with Byron, Bill Clarke weaves the rich backdrop of the Farm Community life--the cramped house, the daily tasks of barn and field and kitchen, the table conversations beset with rancour and humour and kindness, and above all, the unusual personalities whom the rest of society regarded as impossible misfits. These ground the story. He conveys the profound tragedy of a terrible accident and of shredded lives, the power of friendship and hope and imagination, the banal and the utterly exasperating made humorous by the insights of faith and the unexpected juxtapositions of those who think "outside the box" because they have no idea where the box is. The book is made more powerful by Bill's transparency and his eschewing of theory and speculation.

Louisa Blair, long admired by CNT readers for her amusing and insightful articles, lived in the Farm Community as a young Jesuit Companions volunteer. At the end of each chapter are brief excerpts from her letters home to her parents in England. They provide a delightful counterpoint to the main narrative.

The Jesuits have a beautiful prayer that ends, "Give me only your love and your grace, that's enough for me." In a way, The Face of Friendship, is a testimony to the truth of this prayer in the lives of these two men. Like Jean Vanier, I was moved to tears by this profoundly human story. Read it. You will be glad you did.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Catholic New Times, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group