The "Mission Exposure" (MEX) project is carried out by the Pastoral Centre and PIME, in collaboration with the University Centre for Solidarity.

This proposal aims to offer the students of Università Cattolica a path of training and growth, which includes training meetings in preparation for an experience in "mission land" during the summer.

Both the educational path and the practical experience are designed and structured so that students are provoked to grow personally, to acquire a more authentic knowledge of themselves and their spirituality, to deepen their academic skills and to open their eyes to the world.

The encounter with the other, the relationship with social and cultural diversity, the activities of service with the different existential situations of the world are at the center of the experience, aimed at broadening horizons, at "opening the boundaries of oneself and of the world we inhabit" as persons and citizens of the world, open to universal fraternity. In this sense, the MEX holds together in its structure the academic, human and spiritual dimension of the students: each participant is called to get involved, to "expose" himself to the world, to go outside himself and his comfort zone to put himself at service, and then return and reflect on the experience lived, also in the perspective of his own path of human and spiritual growth.

Since 2009, MEX has allowed participants to be sent to countries around the world: from Congo Brazzaville to Brazil, from India to Uganda, passing through Thailand, Bangladesh, Guinea Bissau, Mexico, Cambodia and many others.
The encounter with the cultural and social differences of the other, living a presence made up of service, solidarity and social friendship, has allowed the young men and women of the University to "stay in the heart of reality", even the one that sometimes seems very far away. From activities with street children to visits to the poorest villages, from meeting adults in vulnerable conditions to helping children in conditions of educational poverty and social hardship, touching on social phenomena such as immigration, social exclusion and inequality, the mission is an opportunity to stay close to the humanity of the other, and see how much this encounter changes one's life.

For more information on the MEX and to register for the project, please contact the Pastoral Centre of the University or write directly to: matteo.brognoli@unicatt.it or mario.ghezzi@unicatt.it.

Direct recipients: the proposal is open for a number of 40 students enrolled in the Faculties of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. The proposal is open to the whole University: all students from the Milao, Bescia, Piacenza, Cremona and Rome campuses are therefore possible participants in the experience.

It should be emphasized that for everyone, however, the training will take place on the Lombard territory.
In particular, the training weekends of the course will take place mainly in two main places:

- Villa Grugana, via Solferino, in Calco (LC)

- PIME Missionary Center Milan (Via Monte Rosa, 81)

The course consists of training weekends, one per month, starting in January 2025. In December 2023 there will be a half-day start at the PIME Missionary Center in Milan. Each training weekend starts at 16.00 on Saturday and ends at about 16.00 on Sunday. In order to carry out the experience in the mission, it is necessary to participate in all the formation meetings.
For the quality of the experience, it is possible to skip, for strictly urgent reasons and serious necessity, only one training weekend. Skipping more than one training weekend will not allow you to leave during the summer period in mission land.

Here are the dates of the route:
Saturday 14 December (from 14.00 to 17.00): presentation of the MEX course at Università Cattolica - Largo Gemelli, Room G.018 S. Tomaso M
Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 January: training weekend (Villa Grugana) 
Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 February: training weekend (Sotto il Monde, Bergamo) 
Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 March: training weekend (Villa Grugana) 
Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April: training weekend (Villa Grugana) 
Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 May: training weekend (Villa Grugana) 
Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June: training weekend (Monza) 

To register, fill out and send the motivation letter to the email:
mex.missionexposure@gmail.com
The participants in the project for this edition will then be selected, until all places have been filled.

Registration will close on December 20, 2024.