BENLUTU, Timor Tengah Selatan – Indonesia. In responding to the call of the XXVI General Chapter to exercise the gift of the service of authority in the various roles and responsibilities entrusted by the community (cf. QC 57c, 62), and after the workshop on Claretian Discerning Leadership held in Karukutty, Kerala – India from 1 to 14 February 2023, the Independent Delegation of Indonesia-Timor Leste hold its first group of annual retreat with the specific theme of Claretian Discerning Leadership at Wisma Claretian – Retreat House of Benlutu. This annual retreat and leadership training is divided into three different groups starting from 28 July 2023 to 30 August 2023. Each group lasts nine days and consists of twenty-eight participants.
Frs. Valens Agino, Nikolaus Ilan and Yoseph Ferdinandus Melo, CMFF, accompanied the group with different modules on Claretian discerning leadership through reflections and presentations, personal reflection and group sharing. The whole reflection helps the participants to recognize the role of leaders with the capacity to discern the will of God in different decisions and plans in their respective mission and responsibilities. It is undeniable that we live in a world with its complexities that sometimes lead us to uncertainty and therefore this context of the world needs someone who can discern and lead as well as pave the way to find something authentic in life.
The participants also had the opportunity to deepen some of the points of reflection given by Father General, Fr. Mathew Vattamattam, CMF, using the Zoom platform. In his reflection, Father General shared about “Learning to lead like Jesus.” and asked the participants to create a mystic of leadership in style of Jesus who has a capacity to see and discern the realities of our world today, where people are yearning for authenticity. It is precisely the role of leaders and of each one of us to strive for this authenticity, at least in our own community and first and foremost from our own very life. *
