Cardinal Tobin: We Are His Witnesses
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Vol. 6. No.18
My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Next weekend (June 7–8, 2025), we are launching a new pastoral initiative entitled, We Are His Witnesses. The purpose of this new initiative is to help all of us in the Archdiocese of Newark to travel the path of pastoral conversion and missionary discipleship that we are called to follow as the People of God here in northern New Jersey.
Jesus tells us that He Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6). He invites us to repent, to change the way we live, and to follow Him. What’s more, He invites us to be His witnesses and to share His love and His truth with everyone we encounter.
“Pastoral conversion” requires nothing more or less than our willingness to be open to what God’s Word is saying to us and to listen to one another. As we travel together as daughters and sons of God the Father and as sisters and brothers in Christ, united in the Holy Spirit, we are challenged to be agents of growth and change in our world. We must not be afraid to leave the comforts of home, or to risk venturing out into the world, because we are not alone. The Spirit of God leads the way, and we are accompanied by Mary and all the saints who walk alongside us as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
We are witnesses of Jesus Christ. As Pope Leo XIV teaches us, we exist to bring Christ’s peace to a world at war. As missionary disciples, we are called to bring the living Christ, who is the source of all freedom and hope, to our sisters and brothers who have abandoned hope, whether here in northern New Jersey or anywhere else in the world. We are compelled to bear witness to the lost and the lonely among us, and we believe that Jesus Christ is the face of God and humanity’s ultimate destiny. Through Him, with Him, and in Him, God is with us, so we never have to be afraid.
By virtue of our baptism, we are all called to be both disciples and missionaries. Our Church is a community of missionary disciples of Jesus Christ who have been sent out “to the whole world” to proclaim the Good News, to share what we believe, and to serve all our sisters and brothers, especially the poor and vulnerable.
All of us—whatever our particular vocations—are Pilgrims of Hope and companions on a journey, called to play an active role in our Church’s ministry because we all share in the one priesthood of Christ and because we have each received various gifts and talents (charisms) from the Holy Spirit to contribute to the common good of all.
As Christians, we are called to be women and men who gather around our Lord (cf. Mk 3:14), listening to his Word, encountering Him in prayer and the sacraments (especially the Eucharist) and serving Him in “the least of these” our brothers and sisters. We are also ambassadors of Christ who have been sent out “to the ends of the earth” as His witnesses to proclaim the Good News, teach the faith and minister to all who are in need.
Gathering and Being Sent are the hallmarks of Christian discipleship. Both require that we let go of self-seeking and become willing to find ourselves in God and in our neighbor. Both require that we accept our role as pilgrims who travel together on a journey that often forces us to abandon our comfort zones and embrace new and uncertain realities along the way.
In fact, “pilgrimage” is an image used in most of the great religious traditions throughout human history and even in some secular cultures. Christians embrace the concept of being sent on a journey as pilgrims of hope, but we believe that it’s essential that we first gather around our Lord to receive His instruction, His nourishment and His blessing before we set out as missionaries who will be the face of Jesus to all we meet.
As He sends us out to be His witnesses, Jesus tells us to “travel light.” We are not to be weighed down by material things—or by earthly cares and anxieties. We take with us the Holy Spirit who gives us everything we need to carry on Christ’s work. And when we return to Him after a long and arduous journey, Jesus welcomes us with open arms. He replenishes our weary spirits and renews us by the power of His love.
As Christ’s witnesses, we are called to share the joy of the Gospel with everyone we meet—here at home and in distant lands. We are challenged to be a Church that goes forth rather than one that is turned inward where everything is familiar and comfortable. By turning outward, away from our own needs, we can proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in our actions as well as our words. We can be the face of Jesus to everyone we meet.
Despite our differences and disagreements, which are many, we are all seeking the way to happiness and joy. We who have encountered Jesus, and who have been gathered and sent by Him, can help others to know Him as we do if we are synodal people who recognize the face of Jesus in others and who accompany them on the road to life.
As missionary disciples here in the Archdiocese of Newark, whether we are clergy, consecrated religious or lay faithful, we must 1) love the people we serve, 2) respect their traditions, customs and life experiences, 3) help build up local communities, and 4) be the face of Jesus incarnate in their midst. This is the call to be His witnesses, to be the face of Jesus and, at the same time, to recognize Him in the faces of the people we serve. We are all members of the one Body of Christ, and our differences should enrich us, not divide us.
As missionary disciples, we rightly turn to Mary our mother to encourage and guide us on our journey of faith, hope and love. Mary is the one who said “yes” to God’s will for her even when she couldn’t comprehend its meaning or fully anticipate what it would require of her. Mary was the first missionary disciple. From her first journey to “the hill country” to visit her cousin Elizabeth, to the trip with Joseph to Bethlehem, to the flight into Egypt to avoid Herod’s mad cruelty, Mary went wherever she was sent by God.
Mary also gathered with others—standing at the foot of the Cross, praying with the disciples after her Son’s resurrection, and waiting with them for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Mary is both a fellow traveler and a sure guide and support during our Pilgrimage of Hope. As Pope Leo reminded us in his first message Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world), “Our Mother Mary always wants to walk at our side, to remain close to us, to help us with her intercession and her love.”
With confidence in Mary’s closeness to us, her children, let’s turn to her now and always to seek refuge under her protection and care. And may she always inspire us, and help us, to be His witnesses.
Sincerely yours in Christ the Redeemer,
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R.
Archbishop of Newark
A Message from Pope Leo XIV: In the one Christ, we are one
Together, as one people, let us walk towards God and love one another.
Brothers and Sisters,
I greet all of you with a heart full of gratitude at the beginning of the ministry that has been entrusted to me. Saint Augustine wrote: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Confessions, I: 1,1).
In these days, we have experienced intense emotions. The death of Pope Francis filled our hearts with sadness. In those difficult hours, we felt like the crowds that the Gospel says were “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36). Yet on Easter Sunday, we received his final blessing and, in the light of the resurrection, we experienced the days that followed in the certainty that the Lord never abandons his people, but gathers them when they are scattered and guards them “as a shepherd guards his flock” (Jer 31:10).
In this spirit of faith, the College of Cardinals met for the conclave. Coming from different backgrounds and experiences, we placed in God’s hands our desire to elect the new Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, a shepherd capable of preserving the rich heritage of the Christian faith and, at the same time, looking to the future, in order to confront the questions, concerns and challenges of today’s world. Accompanied by your prayers, we could feel the working of the Holy Spirit, who was able to bring us into harmony, like musical instruments, so that our heartstrings could vibrate in a single melody.
I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother, who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, for he wants us all to be united in one family.
Love and unity: these are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter by Jesus.
We see this in today’s Gospel, which takes us to the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus began the mission he received from the Father: to be a “fisher” of humanity in order to draw it up from the waters of evil and death. Walking along the shore, he had called Peter and the other first disciples to be, like him, “fishers of men”. Now, after the resurrection, it is up to them to carry on this mission, to cast their nets again and again, to bring the hope of the Gospel into the “waters” of the world, to sail the seas of life so that all may experience God’s embrace.
How can Peter carry out this task? The Gospel tells us that it is possible only because his own life was touched by the infinite and unconditional love of God, even in the hour of his failure and denial….
Peter is thus entrusted with the task of “loving more” and giving his life for the flock. The ministry of Peter is distinguished precisely by this self-sacrificing love, because the Church of Rome presides in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ. It is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda or by means of power. Instead, it is always and only a question of loving as Jesus did.
Brothers and sisters, I would like that our first great desire be for a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.
In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest. For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world. We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: Look to Christ! Come closer to him! Welcome his word that enlightens and consoles! Listen to his offer of love and become his one family: in the one Christ, we are one. This is the path to follow together, among ourselves but also with our sister Christian churches, with those who follow other religious paths, with those who are searching for God, with all women and men of good will, in order to build a new world where peace reigns!
This is the missionary spirit that must animate us; not closing ourselves off in our small groups, nor feeling superior to the world. We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people.
Brothers and sisters, this is the hour for love! The heart of the Gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters. With my predecessor Leo XIII, we can ask ourselves today: If this criterion “were to prevail in the world, would not every conflict cease and peace return?” (Rerum Novarum, 21).
With the light and the strength of the Holy Spirit, let us build a Church founded on God’s love, a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word, allows itself to be made “restless” by history, and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity.
Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another.
(A selection from the homily of Pope Leo XIV for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 18, 2025)
My Prayer for You
Please join me in praying these words of Pope Leo XIV:
Therefore, as we entrust to Mary the service of the Bishop of Rome, Pastor of the universal Church, let us, from the “Barque of Peter,” look to her, Star of the Sea, Our Lady of Good Counsel, as a sign of hope. We implore her intercession for the gift of peace, for support and comfort for those who suffer, and for the grace for all of us to be witnesses to the Risen Lord.