From 21 to 26 September 2026, a quiet corner of Chiang Mai, Thailand, became a place of encounter. The Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre welcomed Church leaders from across South and Southeast Asia for the Discerning Leadership Program, held under the theme “Leadership Formation for a Synodal Church.”

They came from India, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Japan, Kiribati and many other countries: provincial leaders and councillors, diocesan vicars, school leaders and local superiors. They arrived carrying the weight of their responsibilities, and they were invited to set it down for a while and ask a different question. Not only “What should I decide?” but “How is God asking me to lead?“

A new chapter in a new context

Organised with the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific and the East Asian Pastoral Institute, the program wove leadership and management skills into the practices of Christian faith and spirituality. The days unfolded as a gradual movement. Participants began by looking at the world they serve, then turned inward to meet their own stories, gifts and limits. They shared their journeys of leadership, prayer, practice in Conversation in the Spirit, and learning to hold conflict and tension. 

A highlight was the keynote of Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. He spoke of a cultural shift from “Father knows best” to “Let us discern together,” and asked whether we can truly listen to one another “when social and ecclesial cultures teach people to defer to the powerful.”

He invited leaders to walk with the poor rather than simply act for them, to examine the structures that decide whose voice carries authority, and to see interreligious dialogue as part of the Church’s mission. Indeed, he challenged participants to see synodality in Asia through the lens of the continent’s profound religious diversity. If synodality is understood simply as “Catholics listening to Catholics,” he argued, the Church risks overlooking one of Asia’s most defining realities. The deeper question is whether “a synodal Church [can] become a listening Church for the whole of Asian society.” 

Looking ahead

What stayed with participants was less a single lesson than a way of being together. Attentive listening, shared prayer and honest conversation created a space of trust in which leaders could speak openly about their joys and struggles. Many spoke of an “awakening of inner self,” of an experience both “personal and communal,” and of a gathering enriched by the diversity of cultures in the room.

Some found their idea of leadership transformed. One came to see it

“not simply as administration or decision-making, but as a spiritual, relational and discerning ministry”

Another described the week as

“a conversion experience—learning to discover God’s presence in my work as a leader” 

In Chiang Mai, a seed was planted: a Church that listens, discerns and leads together, and leaders who find in one another companions for the journey.

As one participant said,

“Come with an open heart and mind and you will be transformed.”

For more information and future iterations, contact dlap@discerningleadership.org