Doing Theology by Listening to Marginalized Voices? Methodological Elements from Encountering Indigenous Families in a Northern Canadian Community

Based on the experience of encountering Indigenous families in a northern Canadian community, this article draws methodological elements for doing theology by listening to people who suffer marginalization. Firstly, I situate listening to marginalized voices as an act of receiving Vatican II and a way of putting into practice Pope Francis’s call for a church that goes out to be evangelized on a path of encounter and dialogue. Secondly, I question the terminology used in referring to those who are marginalized and revisit the centre-periphery paradigm from a theological perspective, in favour of the disruptive movement of bringing the peripheries to the centre, in resonance with Matthew 25. Finally, I draw lessons from the experience of listening to Indigenous families in the Canadian north, on the journey towards a theology that listens to the voice of God in those who are marginalized.