School for Francesco and the Church that is bruised, hurting and dirty.

In his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis said that he prefers “a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”

Across Africa and other continents, many dioceses, parishes, religious congregations, and Caritas members are already living out this vision of the Church. They do so by offering a ministry of presence to a particular category of the poor: those who are treated as outcasts by society, whose pain and suffering are often regarded as a nuisance to the system.

These include slum dwellers, the homeless, migrants and refugees, communities harmed by mining greed, victims of land grabbing and dispossession, and exploited workers in farms and factories. All of these were close to the heart of Pope Francis. Another name for them is “the discarded people.”

An important question therefore arises for pastoral agents involved in ministry among the discarded people:

How do we minister to the discarded people in a synodal way?

In other words, how do we become a synodal Church for the discarded people?

The School for Francesco and the Synodal Church for the discarded people offers a platform for research, training, reflection, and shared learning for pastoral agents — dioceses, religious congregations, Caritas members, and others — who seek to deepen the building of a synodal Church for the discarded people: a Church that is “bruised, hurting and dirty” because it walks with those on the margins.