Dear TLI family,
This week the world watched a remarkable moment unfold in Hong Kong. Catholic activist and pro-democracy leader Jimmy Lai was sentenced to a long prison term after a national security trial that has drawn global attention. His case has been condemned by human rights groups and Western leaders, even as authorities maintain it reflects lawful enforcement of security laws.
Whatever one’s views on geopolitics, Jimmy Lai’s witness is striking for one reason above all: here is a man whose faith has not been a private comfort but a source of courage in the public arena. Even amid persecution, he has stood firm, rooted in his Catholic conviction that truth and human dignity cannot be surrendered to fear or expediency.
This moment calls for reflection because it reminds us that leadership is not defined by popularity or absence of pressure. It is defined by faithfulness to what is true and good when circumstances are difficult. This is not abstract. It is real leadership lived in real time.
We are living in a period of rapid change and complex challenges. Many of you are making decisions that affect families, organizations, communities, and even culture. Like Jimmy Lai, you may not be in the headlines, but your choices matter. They form a hidden network of witness that shapes the moral contour of our age.
At Tepeyac Leadership, our mission is rooted in this conviction: that the lay Christian is called to be a transformative presence wherever God has placed him or her. The Second Vatican Council taught that the laity “have their own special gift of the Holy Spirit” to transform the temporal order from within. This is not a passive task. It demands clarity, courage, and charity.
What Jimmy Lai’s witness highlights is that the interior life fuels the exterior mission. Without an anchor in prayer and truth, leaders are shaped by the culture’s pressures rather than by the Gospel. But when leadership is rooted in Christ, it can endure confusion, opposition, and even suffering without losing sight of what is right.
This week’s events also remind us of something practical. In professional life we frequently face tension between pressure to conform and the call to do what is right. The temptation is to seek quick success, to prioritize outcomes over conscience, to let fear inform decisions. But we know that leadership formed by the Gospel looks different. It begins with listening to the voice of God in silence, recognizing that what we do in ordinary settings, board meetings, negotiations, performance reviews, policy decisions, can either uphold or undermine dignity and truth.
This is why community matters. No one is meant to lead alone. The Christian leader grows not merely through personal effort but through formation with others, through accountability, through prayer and reflection together. That is what we are committed to at Tepeyac Leadership: formation that strengthens interior freedom and deepens moral clarity so that decisions, whether routine or consequential, are made with wisdom, courage, and charity.
You do not need to be famous to be significant. Your witness matters because Christ has entrusted you with influence in your sphere. As Saint John Paul II reminded us, lay Christians are called to be “leaven in the world.” Their presence, shaped by truth and love, transforms the environments in which they work and live.
So today I invite you to reflect on this: how does your work witness to the dignity of the human person? How does your leadership reflect fidelity to truth, even when it is costly? And how can you grow in interior formation so that your decisions are not shaped by fear or convenience but by principled conviction?
We will continue to learn from the world’s fast-moving events. But we stand firm in the belief that faithful leadership, formed by Christ, is not only possible, it is essential. Thank you for pursuing that path with us.
In Christ and Our Lady of Guadalupe,
P.S. The countdown is on for the 2nd Tepeyac Leadership Gala, on March 28. Secure your tickets today by clicking below!
