When hundreds of lobbyists, business officials and lawmakers pack a train headed toward Washington D.C., the drinking begins before the clock strikes noon.
It’s a fine setting for the group of officials to relax and get to know one another better. But it’s not the sort of place many would expect to see a man of the cloth.
But that changed Thursday for this year’s Chamber Train, where seated in train car No. 7 is Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, the newest leader of the Archdiocese of Newark.
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“I saw this as a unique opportunity to kind of learn about, not just about the archdiocese, but about the state,” Tobin told The Auditor.
“I arrived in my kind of official capacity six weeks ago,” he said. “As the metropolitan archbishop, I kind of have a responsibility for the other dioceses as well, so I thought ‘Well, where else could you meet so many people involved in the same sort of work than here?'”
The cardinal described his presence on the Chamber Train as “more of a meet and greet.”
But politics are simmering below the surface.
As President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order barring people from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the U.S. sparked a national dialogue on immigration, Tobin said he hoped to talk to elected officials about refugees.
That includes New Jersey’s highest elected office holder: Gov. Chris Christie.
“I think there’s a lot of misinformation and stereotyping and scapegoating,” he said. “I think that there’s been a lot of misinformation given through, kind of, the 24/7 cable news that has gotten peoples’ fears unjustifiably alarmed.”
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