Where Do We Begin: An Invitation
- Leadership Collaborative
- Oct 9
- 2 min read
In Leaders in a Diaspora Moment: A Framework for the Emergent in Religious Life, Linda Buck, CSJ, writes, “As we hold the tensions of creativity and reactivity within ourselves, our Congregations, Religious Life, the Church and the world, we are incubating the Divine spark that desires for us to transform and allow something beyond what we can see in the horizon.”
Yet, where do we begin? How do we move toward something we cannot see?
She goes on to define “three paradoxical pairs of values” that we must carry with us on this journey into the emergent:
Humility and sense of self
Strength and vulnerability
Detachment and passion.
The questions remain: how do we remain humble while turning inward to explore our sense of self; stand strong while remaining vulnerable; detach from the chaos while entering passionately into the needs of the world?
The Collaborative Leadership Development Program (CLDP) emphasizes our call to share in the divine spark of this transformational process. The 24-month, online program holds space for discovering how we each are Gospel, relational, and prophetic leaders and how we each have the strength and capacity to transform the systems around us.
With a new redesigned program, cohorts meet on the second Friday of each month. Participants are supported to be leaders in informal and formal roles, as together we harness our existing leadership abilities and develop an increased capacity to navigate the uncertainties and change experienced in ministry, community, society, and church.
We invite you to consider applying to become part of one of our CLDP cohorts where you will have opportunities to:
Gain a deeper awareness of your gifts as well as growing edges with the Leadership Circle Profile, a 360-feedback assessment along with coaching sessions with a certified LCP coach.
Exercise your voice by engaging in conversations among your cohort peers that address organizational systems in religious life, church, and society
Deepen systems thinking to promote organizational and systemic change and foster skills and abilities to become a more effective leader through a series of five virtual learning modules.
Strengthen your network of relationships among women religious, charism carriers, and partners in mission from around the world.
Embrace your sense of self-as-leader and apply what you learn with the help of a mentor.
The application deadline for Cohort 12 is December 21, 2025, with orientation beginning on February 20, 2026. The application deadline for Cohort 13 is March 15, 2026, with orientation beginning on May 15, 2026.
Payment plans and limited financial assistance is available.
To learn more, click here or email Elia Cardenas at ecardenas@leadership-collaborative.org.
Programs like CLDP are only partially funded through program fees. To bring this program to a global network of sisters, charism carriers, and partners in mission, we rely on the generous support of congregations and communities of Catholic sisters and other organizations and individuals who believe in transformational leadership for religious life and the gospel mission. We invite you, your congregation or your community to become a part of the Leadership Collaborative mission! Please consider a contribution that will allow us to continue to provide programs like CLDP that transform the world!
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