Listening at the Margins

Explore how spiritual accompaniment contributes to synodal transformation and a renewed future for the Catholic Church.

Listening at the Margins offers a timely theological and sociological intervention into the “midday crisis” of Western Christianity, reframing this moment of fatigue and disorientation not as decline but as an opportunity for “afternoon growth.” In this book, Samuel Privara, SJ, proposes a comprehensive synodal transformation rooted in a kenotic shift toward humble presence and attentive listening to the Spirit—especially as it speaks through those on the peripheries.

Highlighting spiritual accompaniment as a crucial practice, Listening at the Margins shows how it can bridge the Church and the growing demographic of new‑generation seekers, supporting their search for authentic meaning while enriching the Church with experiential wisdom from the margins. By fostering integral maturity and modeling new relational dynamics, spiritual accompaniment becomes not only a key instrument of ecclesial renewal but also a needed antidote to mistrust, polarization, and the impulsive reactions shaping today’s society.

Samuel Prívara, SJ, is a spiritual director and theologian with a multidisciplinary academic background in cybernetics, control engineering, financial engineering, philosophy, and theology. Over the past decade, he has led retreats and offered spiritual direction across Europe and the Americas and completed licentiate studies in theology at Boston College. He is the author or co-author of six books on spirituality and the intersection of spirituality and psychology that have been published in the Czech language.