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Over the past several weeks, the Most Blessed Sacrament Sunday bulletin has included information about Cardinal Tobin’s pastoral letter, We are His Witnesses, a multi-year initiative that will help in shaping a vibrant, hopeful future for the 212 parishes of the Archdiocese of Newark. You are encouraged to read Cardinal Tobin’s letter in its entirety at https://rcan.org/we-are-his-witnesses/ .
We Are His Witnesses will address the following questions:
- Where are we today? What are the opportunities and challenges we face in the changing landscape of northern New Jersey? How can we develop and sustain a bold missionary outreach here in northern New Jersey?
-Where is God calling us to go? What new opportunities is the Holy Spirit opening for us as we proclaim the joy of the Gospel in the diverse neighborhoods of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties? How can we respond to the growing desire for life-long faith formation and spiritual renewal?
-How will we get there together? What changes do we need to make in our pastoral ministries, systems, and structures to meet the demands of pastoral conversion and missionary discipleship, both now and in the years ahead? How do we engage in pastoral planning that truly is grounded in our mission?
Cardinal Tobin is committed to answering these questions by engaging every member of the Archdiocesan faith community in the Church’s mission to discern its future together. With that in mind, the process will begin with a survey called The Decision Maker’s Index (DMI) from the Catholic Leadership Institute. This 10–15-minute multiple choice survey can be accessed through an online link and will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and enable you to provide your perspective on our parish’s efforts to help you grow in relationship with Christ. All responses will be confidential, and the parish will only receive information about the community as a whole. Paper surveys will also be available for those who do not have the ability to complete the survey online.
The survey is available now, and it remains open through May 25, 2025. The link to access the survey is as follows: https://portal.catholicleaders.org/dmi/survey/c3d127 .
It will appear in every bulletin through May 25, and will also be available on the parish website. The results of the survey from our parish, along with the other parishes in the Archdiocese, will be published in the months following with a unified pastoral plan by the summer of 2026.
We look forward to your participation in the survey, and thank you for your discipleship as members of our MBS family.