On the week of May 27th, 5 General Councils and a total of 25 leaders including 5 Superior Generals participated in the yearly Leading Organizational Change module organized and facilitated by the Discerning Leadership Program.

The module is offered to Alumni of the modules 1 and 2 of Discerning Leadership. It is designed for teams that are interested in leading organizational change: General Councils of Religious Congregations, and Leadership Teams of Vatican Dicasteries and Catholic organizations.

The module is designed with inputs in the morning that include space for individual and team reflection. The main frameworks and theories used and covered during the week are: the Theological Model of Organizations, Adaptive Leadership, Discernment in Common, Covert and Overt Dynamics, and Navigating Polarities.

In the afternoons, the teams work with a facilitator-consultant on their organizational challenges and on how to integrate and apply the theories of the morning in a way that transforms their organization aligning their mission and charism with their strategy, resources and impact.

The 5 Congregations that participated in the Leading Organizational Change module on this 2025 are the following:

• Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
• Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters
• Congregation of Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretian Missionaries)
• Soeurs de Notre dame de l’Immaculée Conception de Castres
• Suore Operaie Della Santa Casa Di Nazareth

Additionally there was a team of 4 members of the DL Asia-Pacific Team that were co-learning the theories and methodologies used, as well as developing the structure and organization to launch a small pilot of DL in the Asia-Pacific region to serve Catholic leaders.

Here are included some testimonies of the leaders who participated in the module:

We are very happy to think about this way of training for leaders. You can see an integrated ascending sequence, deeply and complementary between the modules; I am happy and welcome. There are many lights for our work/mission as leaders

I would describe my experience participating in the Discerning Leadership formation as invaluable to my ministry as a member of the Congregational Leadership Team. I have found the program both affirming and challenging in certain aspects of its content. Participating alongside my teammates has also been very beneficial, as we can apply some of the insights from the program to the realities of our ministry

I found the module to be very timely and extremely helpful for my team. With support from the DL team, my team gained valuable insights into addressing one of the key mandates from our 2021 General Chapter to our leadership: restructuring the congregation. I want to thank the DL team for all that you do, as well as for supporting my team and helping clarify the steps we need to take to accomplish some of the tasks ahead of us. Thank you

I ask myself with great hope and joy to be able to take responsibility again in my hands for everything to give me more meaning than I am the actor in the animation of the congregation up to the Spirit of God making the “I” to “WE”

If you are interested in the information for 2026, please write to contact@discerningleadership.org