By Xochitl Ramirez
From the keynote speech during Tepeyac Leadership Night, the graduation ceremony for TLI 2025.
Today marks not an ending, but a magnificent beginning. You stand at the threshold between formation and mission, between learning and leading, between preparation and purpose. The formation you have received with Tepeyac has equipped you with knowledge, shaped your character, deepened your faith, and prepared you to answer one of the most challenging calls of our time: to be faithful Catholic leaders in a secular world.
The Integration of Faith and Professional Life
Many of you will soon enter boardrooms, courtrooms, hospitals, classrooms, and corporate offices. You will face a question that countless Catholics before you have wrestled with: Can I thrive in the business world while remaining true to my Catholic identity? Can these two worlds coexist?
The answer is not just yes—it is essential that they do. The world desperately needs Catholic leaders who refuse to compartmentalize their faith, who bring the light of Christ into every decision, every relationship, every challenge they encounter. You are called to be more than Catholics who happen to work in secular professions; you are called to be Catholic professionals who transform their workplaces through authentic witness.
This means making decisions rooted in Catholic social teaching, even when it's costly. It means treating every employee, every client, every competitor with the dignity that comes from being made in the image of God. It means asking yourself not just "Is this legal?" or "Is this profitable?" but "Does this reflect the love of Christ?"
Consider the impact Catholics can have in institutions and boardrooms when we serve with integrity, love, and joy. When we choose transparency over deception, when we prioritize the common good alongside profit, when we create cultures of respect and human dignity—we become agents of transformation. The marketplace needs your witness. The corporate world is hungry for leaders who operate from a moral center, who see their work as a vocation, not merely a career.
The Face of God in You
But here's the deeper question you must ask yourself: Do people see the face of God in you? This is not about wearing your faith on your sleeve or making grand proclamations about your beliefs. This is about embodying the love, mercy, and joy of Christ so authentically that others are drawn to the source of your peace.
Pope Leo XIV, in his recent teachings on the charisms of the faithful, reminds us that every baptized Catholic is called to participate in the lay apostolate—not as an addition to our professional lives, but as the very heart of how we live and work. Your charisms—those particular gifts the Holy Spirit has given you—are not meant to be hidden under a bushel but to illuminate every aspect of your leadership.
True witness looks like love expressed through competence and care. It looks like joy that persists even in difficult circumstances. It looks like gratitude that recognizes every success as a gift from God. It looks like piety that grounds every decision in prayer. And yes, it looks like meekness that understands strength comes from humility.
Meekness and Leadership
How do meekness and leadership intertwine? In a world that equates leadership with dominance, the Catholic leader offers a radical alternative. Meekness is not weakness—it is strength under control. It is the confidence to lead without the need to dominate, to influence without the need to intimidate, to guide without the need to manipulate.
The meek leader listens more than they speak. They ask better questions than they give answers. They create space for others to flourish rather than demanding all the spotlight for themselves. They understand that true authority comes not from position but from service, not from power but from love.
This kind of leadership is countercultural, but it is desperately needed. The world has seen enough of leadership driven by ego, by the pursuit of power for its own sake. The world needs leaders who see their authority as a responsibility to serve, particularly those who cannot repay the favor.
Service to the Poor and Immigrant
Speaking of service, let me ask you directly: How are you being of service to the poor or the immigrant? Your Catholic faith demands that this question be central to your life, not peripheral to it. Whether you're managing a portfolio worth millions or leading a team of dozens, the Gospel calls you to remember the least among us. By their fruits you will know them.
This service will test you. I know this from personal experience working at food banks where patience runs thin, where gratitude is not always expressed, where the very people you're trying to help may not even appreciate your efforts. But this is precisely where your faith is refined like gold in fire. Are you of service to others who cannot give you anything back in return? Can you love without expecting anything in return? This is the heart of Christian leadership.
Your response to these challenges—when your patience is tested, when your generosity is met with ingratitude, when your good intentions are misunderstood—your response in these moments reveals the depth of your character and the authenticity of your faith.
The Call to Action
I’d like to call you to action. We cannot be silent observers when we witness injustices. We cannot turn away when we see the vulnerable being exploited, when we see systems that crush the human spirit, when we see decisions being made that prioritize profit over people. Your Catholic identity compels you to speak up, to act, to be a voice for the voiceless.
This doesn't mean you have to be confrontational or self-righteous. It means you have to be courageous.
The Role of the Holy Spirit
Before you enter that difficult meeting, before you make that challenging decision, before you have that crucial conversation—do you pause and ask for the Spirit's guidance? Do you create space in your busy schedule for the interior recollection that allows you to hear God's voice above the noise of the world?
Without this spiritual discipline, you will get sucked right back into the world's way of doing things without even realizing it. You will find your virtue eroding, your peace disappearing, your witness becoming ineffective. The world has a way of conforming us to its patterns unless we are intentionally being transformed by the renewal of our minds in Christ.
Living Examples of Love and Joy
Your relationship with God is not just for you—it’s for you to be a witness. Are you living examples of love and joy for your children and other family members? When people in your life face crisis, do they turn to you for prayer? Do they see in you someone who has direct access to the source of all comfort and strength?
There’s a young man named Aiden who is currently in the ICU from a boxing injury. His grandmother knew to call my mother because she recognized her as a woman of prayer. This is the kind of witness that matters—not the one that announces itself with fanfare, but the one that is so evident, so authentic, that people instinctively know where to turn when they need hope. This witness is built through consistency in small things:
The Cost of Leadership
It's not all easy being a Catholic leader. There is real sacrifice and suffering that comes your way. There are hard conversations that must be had and difficult decisions that must be made. Your competitors may gain short-term advantages by cutting corners you won't cut. You may lose opportunities because you refuse to compromise your values. Your response during those times is probably the most important witness you will ever give.
Interior Transformation
Jesus cares more about internal righteousness than external appearances. Your internal heart must be transformed before your external leadership can be transformative. This requires the discipline of prayer, the humility of regular confession, the nourishment of the Eucharist, and the wisdom that comes from studying Scripture and Church teaching.
Pope Leo XIV, even before he spoke a word as pontiff, was a witness. The expression on his face alone drew people to consider the Catholic Church. He looked like someone who understood the immense responsibility he carried, who was deeply aware of both his unworthiness and his calling. This is the kind of leadership presence that changes rooms, that influences cultures, that transforms institutions.
Your Mission Begins Now
Graduates, the world desperately needs what you have to offer. Not just your skills, not just your intelligence, not just your ambition—but your witness. You are being sent as light into darkness, as salt into a world that has lost its flavor, as leaven that will raise the dough of whatever organization or community you enter.
The world needs Catholic leaders who refuse to check their faith at the office door. The world needs leaders who see their professional success as inseparable from their spiritual formation. The world needs leaders who understand that true greatness is measured by your service.
Your formation with TLI is not just a credential—it is a commission. You are being commissioned as lay apostles, as witnesses to the Gospel in whatever field God calls you to. Whether you find yourself in a Fortune 500 company or a small nonprofit, in a hospital or a law firm, in a classroom or a courtroom, your mission remains the same: to be faithful witnesses to the love of Christ.
The Promise of Grace
Remember that you do not go alone. The same Spirit that empowered the Apostles empowers you. The same grace that sustained the saints sustains you. The same love that transformed the world through a handful of fishermen and tax collectors will transform the world through you—if you let it.
When you feel overwhelmed by the responsibility, remember that God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called.
A Final Challenge
As you enter the world of professional leadership, I leave you with this challenge: Will you be the kind of leader that people seek out when they need prayer? Will you be the kind of person whose very presence reminds others that there is something more than the material world? Will you be the kind of Catholic who makes others curious about the source of your joy, your peace, your integrity?
The world is watching, waiting to see if this generation of Catholic leaders will be different.
Conclusion
Go forth with confidence, knowing that you have been well-prepared. Go forth with humility, knowing that you still have much to learn. Go forth with courage, knowing that the world needs your witness. Go forth with joy, knowing that you serve the Lord of the universe.
May God bless you, may Mary intercede for you, and may the Holy Spirit guide every decision you make as faithful Catholic leaders in a world that desperately needs the light of Christ.
Congratulations, graduates. Now go and set the world on fire with the love of God.
Xochitl Ramirez is the Chief Academic Officer at Espiritu Community Development Corporation, a Tepeyac Leader and former member of the TLI Leadership Council USA.
