Leadership commitments

[00:00:00] Welcome to Catholic Leadership for Civil Society. This is an intentional community of Catholic

[00:00:22] leaders, it was faced about Catholic leadership but not for the parish or the diocese. This

[00:00:27] is Catholic leadership for the world. Stay with us and allow us to share with you a vision handed

[00:00:33] to us by the second Vatican Coastal, to help advance the mission of the Church. It all boils

[00:00:39] out to one idea, engaging society as civic leaders. My name is Christopher Pereira, your host.

[00:00:45] My co-host Eric Monlin is also in the room. Hi, Christopher and good morning everyone. Before we start

[00:00:53] if you could please take the time now to ping five people, five Catholic professionals to you know

[00:00:59] and follow in Clubhouse. We would greatly appreciate it. That way not only are they invited to the room but when we invite them

[00:01:06] their friends will be notified and attracted to the room as well. Thank you so much.

[00:01:11] And everyone if you would please, if you still are not part of our telegram group I just want to invite you now

[00:01:18] to go here, going to Herons or my bio and click on that direct link so that you can join our telegram group

[00:01:26] which is an extension of this weekly Clubhouse room and a way to keep the conversation going. Also in

[00:01:33] the telegram group every week you will find the image of the week and I have uploaded already an

[00:01:39] image for this week for the conversation for today. Let me tell you about it and what we're going to

[00:01:45] talk about today. So the topic for today are really the leadership commitments that are part of

[00:01:52] Tepeja Leadership Initiative's experience and this is the program that the sort of

[00:02:01] was the origin of this weekly Clubhouse room and the work that Eric and I are doing every week by

[00:02:07] trying to bring up that invitation for lay Catholic professionals to consider engaging society as

[00:02:16] civic leaders. So it all started about five years ago when we developed in Phoenix, a program called

[00:02:23] Tepeja Leadership Initiative. This is a five-month leadership development program that is now a

[00:02:29] national program available to Catholic professionals from all over the United States and as you know we are

[00:02:35] in the midst right now of recruitment season and this is the last, this will be the last

[00:02:42] of the rooms that we will do directly focused on the program itself. This is what we've been doing

[00:02:49] for the entire month of September and this actually tomorrow is our virtual open house which

[00:02:55] you're all invited to join and in anticipation to that we had been doing a series of rooms

[00:03:02] just simply talking directly about TLI Tepeja Leadership Initiative itself and what the program means

[00:03:09] and that's what we're going to do today but sort of around the sub-team or topic of the leadership

[00:03:16] commitments. So let me tell you about the leadership commitments okay and then I will explain

[00:03:22] the image of the week if you're looking at it. The image of the week is a photo from one of our

[00:03:27] graduation ceremonies for Tepeja Leadership Initiative where you can see let's see five at least five

[00:03:33] Tepeja Glitters. Graduates of the program now graduates of the program as they were graduating

[00:03:39] standing up and reading the out of leadership which is part of the ceremony when we graduate

[00:03:45] our leaders, our Tepeja Glitters and each of them throughout that night had presented in front of

[00:03:52] God and their peers and Bishop Homstead, Bishop Thomas Homstead who was present there as well.

[00:03:58] Their individual concrete leadership commitment and this is a beautiful component of our TLI program

[00:04:07] through the five bond program through the 18 weeks that TLI takes them to

[00:04:14] has to discern, has to enter into this dialogue with God to find out in which concrete way

[00:04:23] is God calling him or her to lead to be a leader in his or her own community. So on graduation night

[00:04:31] each new Tepeja Glitter each graduate shares, reads out loud his or her own individual leadership

[00:04:39] commitment typically this comes in the form of a one paragraph, a hundred words or less is what

[00:04:45] we tell them and it's where they describe exactly what we're going, they are going to set out to do

[00:04:50] as a result of the experience as a result of having gone through TLI. So the leadership commitments

[00:04:56] are so diverse and they're so because they're individual right, their age pertains to the person

[00:05:03] that really commits to them and they take on different shapes and forms and we're going to talk a

[00:05:09] little bit about them, we're going to share some of them with you, some of them do get carried out

[00:05:15] or executed sort of in the short term. Some of them are more like a long term goals,

[00:05:22] some of them my turn into something else right, a Tepeja Glitter, a Tepeja Glitter, my

[00:05:29] offer a leadership commitment and then it turns out that the his or her leadership commitment

[00:05:34] develops turns into something different as they were carrying out their commitment. So

[00:05:41] we'll explain a little more but you have that image and I think it's very telling because

[00:05:46] you can see the formality part of the culture at TLI is that culture of excellence and professionalism

[00:05:53] and it starts even with the way that we dress and present ourselves and it's all the way to the

[00:05:59] execution and to our actions of course and that's very much reflected in the leadership commitments.

[00:06:05] So I'm going to stop right there, we'll be sharing some leadership commitments today but I'm

[00:06:10] going to let Erin sort of chime in as well with her introduction of today's topic, she's a graduate

[00:06:17] of the program and Erin herself had a leadership commitment and then developed into

[00:06:23] sort of morph into other things right Erin but maybe you can say a little bit about that yourself.

[00:06:29] Yeah for sure so yeah I think I've shared in this room before my personal experience with

[00:06:36] graduating from Tepeja Glitter Ship Initiative and just the commitment that I committed to

[00:06:42] and have yet to fulfill but how God had a completely different plan for me and that's why

[00:06:49] I'm here talking to all of you today leading this room with Christopher so I think what's beautiful

[00:06:54] about TLI is that there is so much freedom in the decision making and the discernment process

[00:07:02] for this leadership commitment. Obviously the program is five months so of course that's a lot

[00:07:08] of time in and of itself but each week brings up a new topic which we've talked about and discussed

[00:07:15] before as well and it really gives you a lot of things to think about so things that

[00:07:26] you may have started out going into the program thinking may completely change or evolve

[00:07:32] throughout the program which I think is great because it allows us as Tepeja Glitter's to

[00:07:39] continue to pray and discern throughout this five month process about what it is that God

[00:07:47] is calling us to and maybe he's not calling us to something that we're comfortable with or that

[00:07:51] we thought that we would want to do going into the program because everyone does have the

[00:07:56] understanding going into the program that there will be a leadership commitment at the end that they

[00:08:01] commit to and share in a very public space and it's posted on our website and everything so

[00:08:10] it's very out there and it's for everyone to see so this isn't something that you quietly

[00:08:16] decide and it's just between you and God like this is something that we take a stand on as

[00:08:22] participants in this program and it's very public when we are making these commitments so it's

[00:08:28] something that we take really seriously and I'm really glad that it's a part of this program like

[00:08:34] I said because you know it's great to we Christopher and I have shared things like this before it's great

[00:08:40] to go through programs it's great to go through leadership development professional development

[00:08:47] obviously TLI but if there's no like takeaway or action oriented thing that is supposed to happen

[00:08:56] after that that's like tangible then sometimes the the oomph or like the entire purpose of the program

[00:09:07] kind of falls to the wayside and what I like about TLI is that this leadership commitment component

[00:09:14] of the program really forces us to not just go to classes for five months and then say oh that

[00:09:21] was nice I'll I can't wait to be a leader someday like no it it challenges us to okay you just

[00:09:28] finish this program now right now you're going to commit to something that you're gonna take with

[00:09:34] you and go do starting today at graduation so I really like that because I think there's a lack of

[00:09:42] that in our culture and society today we we we take classes and we go through programs and we do

[00:09:47] all these things but there's no like tangible takeaway or tangible aspect it's just like oh that

[00:09:54] was nice I'm glad I learned that so I'm really glad that this program offers this this opportunity

[00:10:00] for us to make these commitments these very public commitments and then to go and act on them

[00:10:06] and like Christopher said sometimes the commitments take a little longer than we hoped

[00:10:11] I was reading through some of them today and and they're they're all so great a lot of them are

[00:10:16] very ambitious it's maybe not something that you can do overnight which is fine some of them are

[00:10:22] are for a shorter time period and it what in is easier for you to

[00:10:28] immediately after you're done with TLI kind of take what you committed to and run with it

[00:10:33] there's a wide range of things that people commit to and I'm excited to share some of them with

[00:10:37] you today but yeah personally yes I committed to starting a Christian family movement group

[00:10:45] at my parish with my husband I still intend to do it it's a commitment I want to do it I have yet

[00:10:52] to do it and I graduated from this program a couple years ago but the beautiful thing is that

[00:10:59] you know God had another plan it's very interesting to me because I I definitely discerned my

[00:11:05] commitment I took it seriously and recognized this commitment as an opportunity to start that

[00:11:13] group which is something I had actually been hoping and wanting to do and it was perfect timing because

[00:11:18] my husband and I were engaged while I was going through TLI we weren't yet married so I figured

[00:11:24] I was like oh this is great like we'll be married in November of this year and then maybe like next

[00:11:28] year we can start it up and you know life has another way of working out sometimes and of course

[00:11:35] God had a different plan which is fine I just that's not something I was aware of when I was

[00:11:41] discerning my commitment that he had this whole other plan for me and basically what that has

[00:11:48] turned into is is me being here today of course partnering with Christopher on various things

[00:11:56] including the book we're writing writing for TLI's blog and helping them with their Instagram and

[00:12:03] just lots of different things that have kind of happened over the past two years that I had no idea

[00:12:08] that God had in store but I've kind of seen it as you know he's like you know what this is this is

[00:12:15] what I want you to commit to right now in this season of life and he's just literally just opened

[00:12:19] like five or more doors like for me to pursue what he's calling me to to live out this Catholic

[00:12:28] leadership for civil society so that's the like I said before that that's that freedom that I'm talking

[00:12:34] about you know there's this beauty and TLI going through so many different topics and so many

[00:12:41] different avenues for us to be leaders and of course we can discern and we can make decisions

[00:12:46] and commitments but at the end of the day God's gonna do what he's going to do and if that's

[00:12:50] something different then what you like set out to do or plan to do or even went through the

[00:12:55] program for he's gonna reveal that to you and it's so beautiful and I'm so grateful to be on

[00:13:00] this journey so that's a little bit of an introduction and my two cents for starting us off

[00:13:06] thanks Christopher thank you so much and I have shared a direct link to our website for everybody

[00:13:13] in the telegram group and in the website if you go to the top of our website which is TLI program

[00:13:19] that org right at the top there's four in there's a menu with four sections if you click on

[00:13:25] and they're learn then there's an inside menu that has four other options click where it says

[00:13:34] leaders so first learn and then leaders and that right there you will see four tabs for each of the

[00:13:41] four different generations of TLI 2018 2019 2019 2020 and 2021 and you can click on them and read

[00:13:50] each of the leadership commitments from the previous graduating classes of TLI I guarantee you

[00:13:56] will be inspired and I want to share just a few of them with you okay just so that you see how

[00:14:03] diverse they are and how unique today individual age leadership commitment is and also keep in mind

[00:14:11] that this is a this is a desire this is ultimately the leadership commitments are a gift that as a

[00:14:18] result of the TLI experience the discernment and the process each program participant presents

[00:14:24] to God this is what I want to do for you my lord because of the experience that you have given me

[00:14:30] and this is sort of how each tepia leader takes it and they present it and then God can take

[00:14:37] that gift and make of it what he wills as as Aaron and I have been explained so just to give you

[00:14:44] an idea I've seen many of these leadership commitments already carried out carried out and executed

[00:14:50] and completely fulfilled and it's so wonderful and we celebrate that I see many tepia leaders

[00:14:57] currently working on their leadership commitments and others perhaps have gone back and revised them

[00:15:02] and said this is where I offered up but I'm just gonna be doing it slightly differently and I'm

[00:15:07] gonna be doing it like this and so forth so here's one and I'll say the names of the tepia leaders

[00:15:14] because these are all friends are all part of the TLI family Amy Rodriguez from southern California

[00:15:21] who is a digital artist said this this is her leadership commitment I decided to use the gifts

[00:15:28] and talents the lord has blessed me with to advance the kingdom of God here on earth with the grace

[00:15:34] of God my leadership commitment for the near future is to alter and illustrate a series of

[00:15:39] children's books that inspire a love for Jesus Christ my long term commitment is to allow the

[00:15:44] Holy Spirit to work through me and guide any media project I might undertake in the future

[00:15:51] and Amy Rodriguez she said she's a very successful illustrator a digital artist she works with

[00:15:59] several publishing companies many Catholic ones too and some secular so guess Erin who I'm

[00:16:05] thinking of possibly for illustrating our book so but I digress that would be great I think so

[00:16:15] Noel Patno she offered up the following thing I seek to design and to implement a

[00:16:21] ballroom dance curriculum focused on the liberty teaching of theology of the body concepts through dance

[00:16:29] the goal is to promote opportunities for the young adult for young adult Catholics to interact

[00:16:34] in healthy and positive physical interactions to counteract the hookup culture and to promote

[00:16:40] the understanding of our bodies as sacred gifts this dance curriculum will be the sign for the

[00:16:45] gap between confirmation and marriage the structure environment aims to develop healthy friendships

[00:16:51] based on mutual respect for each others movement and physical expression with self-control

[00:16:57] and experiential understanding of theology of the body I thought this was so creative and I

[00:17:03] recently saw Noel in Los Angeles and she's so excited and already working on developing this program

[00:17:12] which she has offered up as her leadership commitment Mauricio Núñez offered up the following thing

[00:17:18] he said I was brought back to our faith at a beautiful retreat center in the middle of the Los Angeles

[00:17:24] metro area he's referring to the retreat for T.L.I. he says the serenity of that center was as an

[00:17:31] impactful as the activities of those ministering the retreat by profession I consult on corporate

[00:17:38] real estate strategy therefore I commit to advising Catholic and other faith based organizations

[00:17:44] on maximizing real estate assets and fundraising for capital improvements my ultimate goal is to

[00:17:51] contribute to preserving and expanding physical places for worship you see Mauricio is in the

[00:17:58] real estate field but he's not just a realtor he really is an advisor on real estate investments

[00:18:04] and he had already been working with some faith based organizations through his work in

[00:18:11] Saugher California and he decided to make that sort of a focus of his work and to be of support

[00:18:21] through the talents and skills that God has given him to the church itself and as you can see this

[00:18:28] is an area where the church also needs help of course so Carolina Manalak Betancourt and this will

[00:18:34] be the last one I think I'll give it to you Aaron I know you have some good ones you want to share

[00:18:39] as well Carolina said my leadership commitment is dedicated

[00:18:47] or about that she said my leadership commitment is dedicated to an happen coming Catholic

[00:18:53] classical school the Good Shepherd Academy which was inspired by our late Good Shepherd

[00:18:58] Father Luis Mars and faithful home school in parents I honestly believe that God has placed TLI

[00:19:04] my path in my path which is the reason why I came back on board with the school the Good Shepherd

[00:19:10] Academy pledges itself to the portion of truth the love of good and the cultivation of beauty for

[00:19:15] the sake of the students minds and hearts to form good citizens for our nation I am committed to be a

[00:19:21] board member of the Good Shepherd and will apply what I learned at TLI to this school let me tell you

[00:19:28] about Carolina so she had some friends that were that had invited her to to be part of this new

[00:19:37] school that was just an idea some com school importance wanted to star school and you know she

[00:19:44] she had talked about it she she was part of the original conversations and at some point she

[00:19:50] felt she just didn't want the commitment going to TLI helped her understand help her understanding

[00:19:59] need for leadership for lay Catholic leadership so she realized that she already had something in

[00:20:04] front of her that got her place and that she sort of had dismissed or neglected so she went back

[00:20:11] to it and she's now a very active and enthusiastic part of the leadership of this school that was

[00:20:20] just lounge this fall the fall of 2021 and she's so excited she keeps reporting back to me and telling

[00:20:29] me about the progress in her school they just found the facilities brat they're doing it basically

[00:20:35] in the parish hall of a large parish and that's where they're starting the school until they actually

[00:20:41] find their permanent campus for the school that they have founded so we could go on and we will

[00:20:49] be discussing this throughout the day and we have some type of leaders also in the room who perhaps

[00:20:54] want to come up and share some of the leadership commitments but Aaron you you had some that you

[00:20:59] you read and you wanted to share with us as well yeah and I I read all of them this morning and I

[00:21:08] don't know I don't have the same insight as you Christopher if these people are currently or

[00:21:12] still have plans to fulfill or already have fulfilled them but still going to read these

[00:21:17] examples just because I was so inspired by them a couple of them are from the very first TLI class

[00:21:24] and then a couple of them are from my class and so I was just very I was reinspired reading all

[00:21:32] of them this morning so here we go the first one I want to share with you is Ryan Sharber I believe he

[00:21:40] is a lawyer correct me if I'm wrong Christopher um but he this was his okay perfect um so yeah he

[00:21:51] is he was part of the first TLI class and this is his commitment I am passionate about ending abortion

[00:21:59] making Catholic education affordable for all and upholding the integrity of our existing Catholic

[00:22:04] institutions thus I plan to support first-way pregnancy center the Catholic Community Foundation

[00:22:11] and Catholic Charities in furtherance of their respective missions I commit to service on at least

[00:22:16] one of the following boards within the next six months the board of directors for first-way

[00:22:21] pregnancy center the professionals advisory board for the Catholic Community Foundation

[00:22:27] and or the young professionals board for Catholic Charities I just I know these are all uh Catholic

[00:22:34] organizations but we we talk a lot about the importance of sitting on boards in this room and

[00:22:40] at TLI and it's just really beautiful to see people have that desire at the end of this program

[00:22:48] which is one of our goals is to get Catholic voices um true Catholic voices on boards of any kind

[00:22:55] and of course these few that a couple that he mentioned are Catholic centers and I think first

[00:23:00] way might be as well but um it's important still to have um authentic Catholic voices at the tables

[00:23:06] where these important decisions are being made whether or not they're in the Catholic community

[00:23:11] or outside of it because the work that we do as Catholics um does affect people who are non-catholic

[00:23:18] so I was just really inspired by um that one and then another one I want to read is from Angelica

[00:23:27] Perez hers is I find a great ongoing need in the right to life movement where men, women and

[00:23:33] children lack the understanding of what it means to be pro-life I plan on volunteering at pro-life

[00:23:39] centers to mentor and educate on the cycle of conception and natural birth I also plan on forming

[00:23:45] curriculum and or educational material to further educate and inform the youth in our schools

[00:23:51] and youth groups and the most vulnerable women in my community again I don't know Angelica

[00:23:57] personally and I don't know if she was able to or is working on this but um I love this commitment

[00:24:04] and especially the second part of of forming curriculum and educational material um to

[00:24:12] uh to educate the youth in schools and youth groups um in the community we all know the importance of

[00:24:18] of um this this movement of of sharing the truth about uh life and and all it from the moment

[00:24:29] of conception to natural death with our youth because that is a place where um that kind of education

[00:24:35] is um not being rooted in truth um there are a lot of organizations and companies trying to get

[00:24:43] their hands into um the sex ed and and other kinds of education along those lines um in our schools

[00:24:51] so I certainly hope Angelica is or was able to um fulfill that commitment because that is something

[00:24:58] so necessary in our communities um another couple that I want to share I I definitely know

[00:25:05] Jennifer is working on hers um this is Jennifer Miravall's commitment she was from my class

[00:25:11] um she said with God's grace I'm committing to create a documentary its mission will be to shine

[00:25:18] light on the truth behind one of the most controversial topics today abortion this movie will give

[00:25:24] a space for women who have been victimized by abortion to share their story the hope for this film

[00:25:30] is to not only expose the truth but also to show that healing is possible this documentary will

[00:25:36] honor the human dignity of every single person including those in the pro choice movement um

[00:25:43] Jan is actually one of my friends and I do know that she um immediately started working on this

[00:25:50] documentary after TLI and has been doing so since then so I'm excited to see um when it is complete

[00:25:56] but uh she was very committed uh to this from the very get-go she kind of knew what she was going to do

[00:26:04] um earlier on in the program and made it a very serious thing and started working on it

[00:26:10] I think even during TLI and then and even more so right after our graduation but um keep an eye out

[00:26:17] for her name and this documentary because it is in the works I can attest to that and it's

[00:26:22] it's so beautiful and so needed and it's such a different view than some other

[00:26:27] films that have been made um about this topic so um very very happy that she is committing to that

[00:26:36] and then last but not least uh Lisa Johnston her commitment was she said my leadership

[00:26:43] commitment is threefold for my children I have taken on the role of president of the parent

[00:26:48] service organization to help build a better school and community for them

[00:26:53] for my church I will be handwriting notes to the parents of teens who are not attending

[00:26:57] the parish life teen program in order to increase participation and increase spirituality for young

[00:27:04] adults TLI has also reignited in my desire to run for public office from a lofty aspiration

[00:27:13] into a concrete reality I have begun discussions with professionals to learn about where I can best

[00:27:18] fit into a nominated board or elected position um Lisa was another one of my classmates who I was

[00:27:26] so inspired by throughout the whole program and um her commitment really speaks to her character

[00:27:32] which is something we talk a lot about in TLI and I I'm guessing she she fulfilled or is

[00:27:40] fulfilling all of these things because that's just the kind of person she is um I really wanted

[00:27:45] to hone in on her commitment to um running for public office that's something else that we talk a lot

[00:27:51] about in this room and in TLI there is such a need for true Catholic voices in a leadership role

[00:27:59] such as public office and we need more people to commit to doing that and so I was so impressed by

[00:28:06] Lisa's um inspiration and aspiration to to pursue that and I certainly hope she did hi I don't know

[00:28:14] she did baby Christopher you can um speak into that but I do know that Lisa was very um set on her

[00:28:22] commitment throughout TLI as well so just another one that I wanted to share with you.

[00:28:28] Thank you and yeah I was just waiting for you to finish so I can give you the update on the

[00:28:32] report of niche one of them so Ryan Sharver has absolutely fulfilled his commitment he has exceeded

[00:28:39] his commitment he I think of Ryan very often as the uh epitome he epitomizes TLI because

[00:28:49] he right after he completed the program he just went on to join multiple boards and it's like

[00:28:56] he this is how he says it he explains it really his entire career was transformed by the program

[00:29:03] and I mean in so many different uh there's he made a partner in his law firm and then through the

[00:29:12] joining of all of these boards he was able not only to serve the organizations for which works

[00:29:17] he was sitting in but he was able to get so much new business for his law practice which is he

[00:29:24] he sustained planning lawyer so so all of the connections that he made through board service were

[00:29:30] also good for him in his own career and he was able to be a a a a a a a sounded and very uh the wise

[00:29:37] voice addition of the boards where he's still serving by the way he's part he's also part of the TLI

[00:29:43] national board of directors so that's Ryan and then Angelica has fulfilled her commitment for sure

[00:29:50] and I know that Jen I just saw Jen yesterday in Tucson she's still working on her commitment she

[00:29:56] she's working on it and she's very passionate about it it might take her a little longer now that

[00:30:00] she's engaged and planning a wedding but she's certainly working on it and Lisa I actually saw

[00:30:10] a couple of weeks ago and Lisa had this threefold commitment the first two parts are already

[00:30:16] fulfilled and the most challenging one the the one uh about running for office she's still

[00:30:23] studying and doing her homework and preparing herself for it she uh has indicated to me that she

[00:30:29] certainly certainly wishes to wait a little bit into her her children grow just a little bit more

[00:30:35] until her children are a little bit older but she's working on it and and what we have at TLI we

[00:30:41] actually have this is the only one of its type a sort of a quarterly meeting so four times a year

[00:30:48] we meet with this group that we call Catholics in the public square forum and it's comprised of

[00:30:55] each one of our graduates who has indicated and intend to run for office Lisa is part of that group

[00:31:01] so the all that group is comprised now of about at least six graduates of the program uh who

[00:31:09] have already committed to running for office we still haven't had anybody run for office

[00:31:15] front TLI but many people are working on it and these things take time but these are the leadership

[00:31:22] commitments well already in the in the uh stage we have two of our tapioca leaders and we love

[00:31:28] to hear in order of of appearance uh and dress if you could share a little bit and dress just in general

[00:31:34] uh about uh well maybe starting with your own leadership commitment of course but then more

[00:31:41] in general about the leadership commitments because as a facilitator of the program now uh of

[00:31:47] one of the tracks for the for TLI you have seen several of the program participants um develop the

[00:31:55] certain percent and offered out their commitments and you've already seen some of them carry out

[00:32:00] their commitment so i know you can say a lot about them and dress yeah thank you Chris and thank

[00:32:06] you're and good morning everyone so regarding my leadership commitment um it actually started while

[00:32:11] i was in the TLI program and i felt the inspiration i felt the calling to join a board and so at that time

[00:32:19] i did end up um joining a board and um it had been good so i i was a board member at large and

[00:32:27] eventually with this board it's uh Arizona Environmental Health Association i ended up running

[00:32:32] for president elect which i currently serve as right now which means in let's see another

[00:32:39] a little less than a year i will become president of this board um and it's a it's a non-profit

[00:32:45] board but i mean it's good we have a lot of outreach that we do and especially those in the um

[00:32:51] environmental health profession um the very well aware of our our association organization and

[00:32:56] the work that we do so that's been good and that's something that's come out of TLI and um

[00:33:01] like Christopher was sharing about Ryan it has opened other doors and opportunities and

[00:33:06] um establish new networks and people that i mean in your career you find i mean being beneficial

[00:33:14] and so that part was fulfilled um the other portion was running for a a city board

[00:33:23] or commission which i i did end up doing and i remember it was really interesting because the way

[00:33:29] the city of puria in Arizona um which i live in the way they do these is you apply um to be

[00:33:36] uncertain board and then you have to appear in front of the uh the elected officials there the

[00:33:42] the city council members and um you essentially interview in front of everyone which is interesting

[00:33:48] it's just a room full of people and um you go to the the main seat when they call you up and

[00:33:54] they ask some questions and the the unfortunate thing is during well prior to them interviewing me

[00:34:01] they were talking about the uh designer view board which is the one that i had interviewed for

[00:34:07] and they were saying that they were planning on increasing the amount of meetings that um

[00:34:12] they were going to be having for this board and so um i heard that and i i felt a little bit like

[00:34:17] that probably was a little too much but i still ended up doing the interview and um one of the

[00:34:24] uh the city councilmen had asked if after i told them about my experience and the things i was

[00:34:29] involved in asked if it was if it was too much if i even had enough time and my responses i

[00:34:34] think i was going to be able to make it work but i mean it it was a blessing they never called

[00:34:39] called me back or asked me to be on the board um the director was there he seemed interested in

[00:34:44] having me but i really think it was a blessing because there was another opportunity that came

[00:34:48] up after that and i consider it part of um not my original commitment but a new commitment and

[00:34:54] that was Christopher Pareda asking me to be um the T.L. I Phoenix facilitator which again is another

[00:35:01] immense opportunity that i couldn't say no to and again it's just opened many doors for me

[00:35:09] professionally but also spiritually and um it's just been amazing new commitment that i had added to

[00:35:16] and then the last part um actually let me back up with the city board my plan was to get experience

[00:35:22] who eventually run for a public board which i'm still in the process of discernment and

[00:35:29] trying to figure out the timing and all those things so um definitely ask for prayers on that

[00:35:34] and then lastly um as a part of my commitment and still trying to figure out where it was that god

[00:35:39] was calling me too um was trying to use um i guess what what i had seen is my creative um side or

[00:35:49] qualities and ended up um doing a video it was a video challenge with uh e w t n and it was

[00:35:59] essentially just creating a one-minute video to promote um e w t n and this cool to be Catholic

[00:36:04] um theme that they had and um i ended up working with someone that i had met through the T.L. I which is

[00:36:11] he's a professional and he was able to help me put together really great peace um in terms of

[00:36:17] just the uh the video and and the way that it was executed and everything you knew what he was doing so

[00:36:23] that was done and i didn't win which was fine but um i did see that as god um closing a door to

[00:36:31] allow another one to open up which was really the T.L. I so um that's been my experience

[00:36:37] with my commitments and so that i i i say that it's been um partially fulfilled not fully

[00:36:43] fulfilled but it's on its way to being completely fulfilled to god willing one day um but with

[00:36:49] regard to generally speaking the um the commitments for the the L.I. participants and graduates

[00:36:56] you know it's really something that that's an amazing part of the program the reason being is because

[00:37:02] as people are going through the program they're starting to hear about the different aspects

[00:37:07] of civil society that have an impact not only in their lives but the lives of their family their

[00:37:12] friends their co-workers and they start to see the different patterns and different areas of

[00:37:19] society that are affected by the culture in a negative way and so they start to see how they can

[00:37:25] make a change and they can be that voice they can be that leader to impact that that part of society

[00:37:31] and you start to see this this formation and you start to see this um this kind of shaping of

[00:37:38] these ideas and eventually they come to fruition at the end of the program when each participant

[00:37:44] is able to present these ideas and having been a part of the program but now being a facilitator

[00:37:51] i remember Chris saying that it was just such a beautiful experience for him to hear the participants

[00:37:57] as they're graduating um sharing their commitments but i can't say my own experience has been

[00:38:02] just outstanding and beautiful and so rewarding and fulfilling because you're seeing them all the

[00:38:10] participants growing through their program you kind of see some of their focus i mean it comes out

[00:38:15] when they're speaking or they're asking questions um or if there's a particular session where they're

[00:38:21] really interested in and then everything comes to fruition at the end and you just hear the beauty

[00:38:27] of these people that the things that that matter to them and that are important to them

[00:38:34] they're willing to put themselves out there and they're willing to be a voice and they're willing

[00:38:38] to be those leaders in civil society to help really shape and form and bring Christ to the world

[00:38:46] and that that's one of the best experiences and i always just feel i was get goosebumps when

[00:38:52] when i hear them reading their commitments because it's just amazing to know that these people

[00:38:57] these good well-formed Catholic people with good intentions are going to be going out and helping

[00:39:02] to transform the world and um yeah Chris if there was anything else that you wanted me to share

[00:39:08] i'd be happy to but thank you guys for your time thank you and i was perfect actually that was

[00:39:13] perfect thank you and then so glad that you mentioned or shared with us this story about the video

[00:39:18] context that you entered because it gives me the opportunity to highlight the phone which is

[00:39:25] that is never not only with TRI and the leadership commitments but really to with our Catholic faith

[00:39:30] itself is never really

[00:39:38] we certainly are going to aim at succeeding as a whole and then it will be crazy not to

[00:39:45] whatever we do anything we aim for success but it's not about success it's about fidelity

[00:39:52] or Teresa reminded us at least which she said we're not called to be successful we're called to be

[00:39:58] faithful faithful so with the leadership commitments as with everything else in our Catholic faith

[00:40:04] right our our golden holiness what God really appreciates and wants to see on on on us is the

[00:40:11] travel the sacrifice the daily effort to become a very version of ourselves to sanctify ourselves

[00:40:19] through our lives so with with the leadership commitments if you think of an example of

[00:40:24] of the many people who have already indicated the one to run for public office well they are

[00:40:31] committing to running not to willing that's really on that's hands and and and we're going to put

[00:40:36] all of the effort all of the hard work and they'll do their homework they'll do their part

[00:40:41] and they'll do everything God's hands and whether they will

[00:40:49] keen us to be faithful not successful and many times we'll be successful and we'll

[00:40:55] aim for success but it's about faithfulness it's about faithfulness in what we got we got

[00:41:02] a task in our eyes where we have all came up to do and that's when the leadership commitments

[00:41:07] ultimately are about and we already have in the in the stage two other top-of-year glitters who

[00:41:12] I'd love to hear from so Gina please share with us about their leadership commitments

[00:41:19] thank you so much for having me sorry i'm gonna talk quietly because i am at work um so i work

[00:41:25] at a public university and i'm actually a student also so my T.O. like commitment

[00:41:31] is is twofold i'm in a cultural studies program with Chicano studies and the school i'm at

[00:41:41] but you know i attend a university that's 40% let me know Hispanic i already tend and

[00:41:50] there's no sight within the department of my faith that's deeply rooted in chivalicism

[00:41:58] um and my culture as well so my commitment has been to bring the Catholic Chicano identity to

[00:42:09] the forefront with my thesis which i'm working on now but even more so like uh bringing it to

[00:42:19] the forefront when i'm with students there my peers um like i'm in a class that is titled

[00:42:25] The Adelaus Martha's and while that has all its cultural and um art aesthetics to it there's a very

[00:42:34] tiny tint of this has to do with also space and all same stays so my scope in that is bringing

[00:42:43] my readings the topic of my Catholic identity into the conversation within the class room and then

[00:42:51] the art i will produce for this particular class that i'm taking as part of the preparation for my

[00:42:57] um thesis and and here i work as well making sure that you know my faith is displayed here with the

[00:43:10] with her at work i think well for T.O.I

[00:43:14] thank you Gina thank you so much you see what i've shared this with you now before i think

[00:43:21] she is in such a uh privileged and strategic uh place and position right now because of the

[00:43:29] work that she's doing which Chicano studies and the opportunity that she has to influence

[00:43:35] her her uh the university that she works for um because if you know a little bit about Chicano

[00:43:42] studies right it's it's it's really the the study of uh the Mexican-american experience in history

[00:43:50] and culture particularly in the southwest um of the United States well if you want to be true

[00:43:59] to the to the Mexican-american experience history and culture you cannot you just it would be so

[00:44:08] uh so sincere that so so um to live out the Catholic identity of Mexican-americans right however

[00:44:18] oh that many many universities or or or even public schools who have a curriculum that deals with

[00:44:28] Chicano studies or Mexican-american studies they live out they tend to live out the spirit of

[00:44:34] aspect of of the the Chicano experience or the Mexican-american experience and Gina of course

[00:44:41] it's uh it's an ambassador of Christ with team her department and she is there to make sure that

[00:44:47] this is not left out because not only is it is an important part of the Mexican-american experience

[00:44:55] if it it should be the central part it is the central part of the Mexican-american experience so

[00:45:00] i'm so fascinated by the word that you're doing Gina and so uh a course by what you're doing let

[00:45:07] us hear that from Lauren who has joined the state and she also was to share. Lauren.

[00:45:14] Good morning everyone um my leadership commitments uh I am one of the the graduates who

[00:45:24] uh had had had an intention uh had a full intention with my leadership commitment um actually

[00:45:32] started it and then um kind of had to take a left term from it um so my leadership commitment was

[00:45:39] to go teach at a Catholic high school and start a Bible study there for students and I did teach

[00:45:46] at a Catholic high school for a year um but unfortunately just uh god took me in a different direction

[00:45:52] so i'm probably one of those uh graduates that you spoke about earlier who is kind of trying to

[00:46:00] figure out what my new commitment uh is going to be um however um I have had the opportunity to

[00:46:08] become a T.O.I mentor uh to a uh 2020 2021 graduate I believe yes um which was amazing um got to

[00:46:20] meet a wonderful young woman who is a teacher in in canada and so that was a really awesome

[00:46:25] experience someone who i still speak to even though she has finished the program as well um i've

[00:46:32] also been able to uh help out with some different things through uh Catholic education Arizona

[00:46:39] and and some other thing opportunities that Chris has kind of brought to my attention uh I'm also

[00:46:47] applied for the diocesan school board here in Phoenix don't know if that's going to come to fruition

[00:46:52] but uh have definitely tried to do other things that i probably would not have had the opportunity

[00:46:59] to do had it not been for this program uh so my journey is slightly different than I think uh

[00:47:05] jenna's and and and and it's a slightly different journey but um still one that i believe is

[00:47:13] completely blessed and uh and is one that i believe god has me on thank you Lauren and i think every

[00:47:21] everyone's journey is unique and and we can i definitely can't see you guys hand

[00:47:27] walking through your own journey and and and pat so thank you for sharing that with us and normal

[00:47:33] with us as well no ma are you sure we ask my friend can you can you hear me yes okay

[00:47:45] thank you well i oh my god i have so much going on always always but i think one of the uh well

[00:47:53] first i i have i am in the um diocesan schools executive learner and um that's we're doing so much

[00:48:08] you know to help our our kids uh the community need uh that's part of my job too at St. Vincent

[00:48:15] Paul i have been uh i feel like i'm an activist now so much on fighting for but um fighting about

[00:48:25] having our own player um playing before our meetings you know just garage there's so much it's just

[00:48:33] crazy how people will go against a player you know before our meeting and um now we're going to have

[00:48:40] a bible study in the starting next week you know because i i am also with uh maricopa county

[00:48:49] committee and i'm going to be joining another uh committee for the kewani s and lavin community

[00:48:56] because part of my job is to reach out to to the young um students and to and that was part of my

[00:49:04] commitment and as well so i feel like i am doing a lot of that work making sure but you know

[00:49:12] regardless of what i do i always make sure that i'm not ashamed of my values as a Catholic you know i

[00:49:21] know what i what i believe in and some people will want you to not speak up because okay you can

[00:49:30] only say this but not make sure you don't say that because people can get offended um i don't care

[00:49:37] you know i always speak up and i'm trying to to um to do uh what god wants me to do i always feel

[00:49:48] you know every day i think that for the new opportunity you know to go out there and fight the fight

[00:49:55] and make sure that we're teaching our um young uh students you know to to not be ashamed of who

[00:50:05] they are in what they believe in so today i actually have a meeting with uh i actually have a

[00:50:12] tour with three kids from the Xavier school and um it's it's a lot of work you know but i think um

[00:50:22] um i'm just i'm just happy to be part of it i'm happy to be a graduate i'm also i also mentor a field

[00:50:31] graduates i think it was last year and the year before and um i think i get myself into a lot of

[00:50:40] things but you know i learned to say no to to make sure that i do um quality words so and i have

[00:50:48] the pleasure to work with Aaron as well so yeah thank you thank you for sharing normal you are such

[00:50:58] as servant leader and and it's it's amazing all the things that you're doing for different

[00:51:04] communities that that you're part of and of course always bringing your Catholic faith

[00:51:08] right center of it so we've come to uh where we only have a few minutes left for the hour so

[00:51:17] what we've been doing today is basically given uh uh uh sharing with you sort of what the leadership

[00:51:24] commitments are with team tepeag leadership initiative so as Aaron to come in with a wonderful

[00:51:30] summary that she always gives us so we can dismiss the the room for today. Aaron

[00:51:37] awesome thanks Christopher so i'm it's going to be a bit of a shorter summary today because i

[00:51:44] wanted to just let you all have what you shared and not try to recap it and butcher it at the end

[00:51:51] but um again today we were just discussing uh tepeag leadership initiatives leadership

[00:51:58] commitment component and um very glad to have this conversation because again we're we're just

[00:52:06] talking about how we can take what we learned through this five month program and actually apply it

[00:52:12] in our communities and to become those Catholic leaders in civil society that the Lord is calling

[00:52:18] us to when we uh enter into this program so um tealye leadership commitments are our gift

[00:52:27] to god essentially and uh Christopher started us off with that image of the week that we always have

[00:52:33] and i think it's so great to to look at this image and then be talking about this today because

[00:52:41] that's really what it is when we make this this commitment out loud in front of our friends and

[00:52:46] family members and our tealye classmates we really are giving this gift not only to our communities

[00:52:55] but back to god as as a way to thank him and and um what's the word i'm looking for

[00:53:03] and just and commit to him and to carrying out his word in our lives and in our communities so

[00:53:09] that's really what it is it's our gift to god um Christopher and i each read several of the leadership

[00:53:17] commitments that have been um that have come from the various cohorts already and we posted the link

[00:53:26] to that in our telegram group so if you go to that link on our website you can find the leadership

[00:53:34] commitments for every single person who has gone through tealye to date so we highly recommend that

[00:53:40] you go and look at them and read through them because they are really inspiring um like i said i

[00:53:46] was reinspired this morning when i was reading through them all so we read about eight different

[00:53:52] commitments to you and there's so many more uh to look at so um we went through those and then

[00:54:00] had several of you join us on the stage who have already gone through tepiac leadership initiative

[00:54:06] and that was Andres, Gina, Lauren and Norma and Andres um i know you shared what you um did

[00:54:14] and it was so inspiring and you're just doing so many good things in our community on the more

[00:54:21] secular side but bringing that Catholic voice to the table in the various uh boards and organizations

[00:54:27] you're a part of but the two words that you used to describe um tealye and then this leadership

[00:54:33] commitment was rewarding and fulfilling i really wanted to bring that back up because that's

[00:54:40] exactly what these are um these these commitments are not only rewarding to us but rewarding to

[00:54:46] gods kingdom into our communities and they are fulfilling we're doing this good this tangible work

[00:54:53] that the lord has called us to through tealye and um it's it is fulfilling it it it makes us

[00:55:02] just no one understand that we're doing this work um for the lord and he's using us as an

[00:55:08] instrument and that is so so rewarding and fulfilling so thank you for sharing that i just wanted

[00:55:13] to bring up those two um words that you specifically used to describe this experience um and then

[00:55:20] Gina Lauren and Norma thank you three for sharing your personal commitments and how they've either

[00:55:27] continued on or changed or evolved in some way you are all um such great leaders in our communities

[00:55:34] and and the lord is clearly working through you and i just appreciate you sharing each of your

[00:55:38] stories because um we all have different uh characteristics and talents and skills to bring to

[00:55:44] the table and um it's beautiful to hear how he is working through each of you so thank you all so

[00:55:51] much and thanks for listening to this uh a little bit different summary today i'll send it back to

[00:55:57] you christopher thank you very much sharing that was perfect actually for day um and before i

[00:56:02] end i just want to remind everybody and invite everyone to please join our uh tepeagrishapenitio

[00:56:10] virtual open house tomorrow tomorrow friday of thursday at seven p.m eastern four p.m pacific if you

[00:56:19] happen to be in phoenix you can actually join us in person at the diocesan pastor of center um which

[00:56:25] is right in downtown and in your phoenix you know uh the the dpc or diocesan pastor of center also known

[00:56:32] as the diocesan is right next to some maris basilica you can join us there tomorrow at four p.m

[00:56:38] or you can join us virtually at seven p.m eastern four p.m pacific for our virtual open house it's a

[00:56:44] hybrid event there'll be uh an in person crowd gathering there at the at the the diocesan

[00:56:51] and pastoral center and we will livestream the event it's only going to be an hour and a half but

[00:56:55] please do join us because this is the event where we uh we really uh bring some uh testimonials from

[00:57:03] from key graphs of the program that we really want to highlight their stories and then we answer

[00:57:09] some questions live from the audience i know we've been doing that a little bit here on clubhouse

[00:57:13] but we'll do it for another audience and a larger audience a virtual audience as well and uh hopefully

[00:57:19] you can be part of that hopefully you can join us in person you can join us virtually and bring

[00:57:24] a friend whether you're coming in person or virtually invite someone to join us as well so with that

[00:57:30] i'm going to close it and remind you to please follow Aaron and I i also invite you to keep the

[00:57:35] conversation going in our telegram group where you can always find the image of the week find the

[00:57:40] direct link in erens or my profile that's the link to the telegram group and for the virtual

[00:57:46] open house tomorrow that's gonna be livestream right from our facebook account our tepejack leadership

[00:57:53] facebook account that's where we're going to live streaming from also don't forget to join the

[00:57:58] catholic professional club here on clubhouse join us live on clubhouse Thursdays at 9 a.m. pacific

[00:58:05] if you like what you heard today listen to it again or share it through our weekly podcasts

[00:58:10] you can find our podcasts in all of the platforms just look for catholic leadership for civil society

[00:58:17] remember this is an invitation to step into the leadership role that God has for you in civil

[00:58:23] society why because if not now when and if not us who thank you very much for a wonderful week