Malindi, 19 October, 2021 / 9:18 pm (ACI Africa).
The process of the Synod on Synodality inaugurated in the Catholic Diocese of Malindi in Kenya seeks to include “those considered as outsiders”, the Local Ordinary of the Kenyan Diocese has said.
In his message to the people of God under his pastoral care, Bishop Willybard Lagho guides Catholic Church leaders in his Episcopal See on the synodal process whose 22-page preparatory document, which is to be reviewed by all Catholic Dioceses across the globe over a six-months period, was released on September 7.
“I am therefore calling upon all pastoral leaders, especially the Parish Priests to renew and redesign holistic Parish pastoral programs only after discerning divergent, legitimate and authentic voices of the people they serve including those considered as outsiders,” Bishop Lagho says in his message published October 17.
The Kenyan Bishop adds, “The Synod in the words of Pope Francis offers us the opportunity to discern and listen to fellow pilgrims including many others who worship differently including atheists.”
Among those to be listened to, during the Synod process are “people who frequently remain in the church periphery like abused teenage girls and mothers, couples in un-solemnized marriages, polygamists, divorced, landless and street families, human trafficked and vulnerable migrants, abandoned babies and elders,” the Catholic Bishop says.
