What do we mean by discerning leadership? Where does it come from, and why is it being talked about so much in the Church today?
The term “discerning leadership” is a literal translation of the formation programme Discerning Leadership, which a multidisciplinary team linked to the Society of Jesus launched in Rome a few years ago and in which I was fortunate to participate. The aim of this programme is to support people in high positions of authority and responsibility in the Church, helping them to develop their abilities as leaders, administrators, and managers, with a particular focus on discernment and the Church’s synodal journey.
In a cultural context marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), we need a form of leadership that helps individuals and groups to discern the essentia l from the incidental, to avoid falling into post-truth or polarisation, and to ground the exercise of authority in ethical values. In the case of ecclesial communities, this discernment also seeks to illuminate the complex realities we face today through the person of Jesus and the Gospel, always considering the synodal moment the Church is experiencing. Today, leadership cannot be exercised with a hierarchical and authoritarian mindset.
How does this relate to our vocation as missionaries?
I believe it is highly relevant. We are called to journey with Christian communities of various kinds—parish, educational, missionary, and so on. We share with them the uncertainty and complexity that characterise our world today. The challenge is to exercise a “discerning” type of accompaniment, inspired by Jesus and his way of leading through service and self-giving. This approach should embrace the best of ecclesial and congregational tradition (Claret is an excellent model of close and compassionate leadership) while also integrating recent contributions from the human sciences that have studied leadership.
How can we accompany people in different positions across our province with whom we share the mission? What are the opportunities and challenges?
I believe that the Province of Fátima has made a great effort to organise regional workshops (in the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Spain, and soon in Zimbabwe) for all its members. These three-day workshops provide key insights and tools that can be effectively used in communities and pastoral roles. Now, the focus should be on deepening the core topics and, above all, on involving—through a renewed awareness of “shared mission”—as many laypeople as possible who hold responsibilities in the missionary life of the province. What is essential for everyone is to grasp the urgency of a new kind of leadership for this new era of synodality in the Church. Without trained leaders, we risk pouring the new wine of synodality into the old wineskins of a highly clerical or routine-based leadership.
