Pope appoints archbishop Joe Tobin as head of Indianapolis archdiocese

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop Joseph William Tobin, the Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated life, as the new head of the archdiocese of Indianapolis in the USA.

While the move is likely to be warmly welcomed by the 246,000 strong Catholic community in Indianapolis archdiocese, it will certainly sadden many of the almost one million men and women religious, not only in the USA but also elsewhere in the  world, sources in religious orders told Vatican Insider earlier this week.

Tobin flew to Indianapolis on Monday 15 October.  Rumors predicting this change began circulating soon after the publication in April 2012 of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s highly critical report of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States.  At the time, it was widely known that Tobin was not happy with that report and, it seems, had not been consulted on it.

Even taking that into account, his reassignment is nevertheless surprising given that just over two years ago – on 2 August 2010 – Pope Benedict had personally chosen Tobin to be Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of  Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life.  He had come to know and appreciate Tobin while he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the American was head of the Redemptorist Order (1997-2009), and hand-picked him for that post.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Tobin did under-graduate and post-graduate studies in the USA, before working in parish ministry in Detroit and Chicago for 12 years and serving another 6 years as Episcopal-vicar for the archdiocese of Detroit.

He came to Rome in 1991 following his election as Consultor-General of the Redemptorist order, and in 1997 was chosen to head that order, a post he held for the next 12 years. [More]

SOURCE

Vatican Insider/La Stampa