Joseph William Tobin, CSsR, (born May 3, 1952) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Redemptorist order, he has been the Archbishop of Newark since 2017. He previously served as the Archbishop of Indianapolis from 2012 to 2016 and as secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life from 2010 to 2012. He has been a cardinal since November 19, 2016.
Early life and education
Joseph Tobin was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1952, the oldest of the 13 children of Joseph W. Tobin and Marie Terese Kerwin. He was baptized five days after his birth at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in Detroit, founded and administered by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists). He later attended the parochial school at the church.
By the time he had graduated, Tobin felt called to serve as a Catholic priest and applied to join the Redemptorists, who accepted him as a candidate. He then attended St. Joseph's Preparatory College in Edgerton, Wisconsin, the Redemptorist minor seminary. After graduating in 1970, he was received into the Redemptorist novitiate of to begin his formation as a member. He made his temporary profession of religious vows as a member of the Redemptorists on August 5, 1972, and his perpetual vows on August 21, 1976.
In 1975, Tobin received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Holy Redeemer College in Waterford, Wisconsin. He then studied at Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, New York, earning a Master of Religious Education degree in 1977 and a Master of Divinity degree in pastoral theology in 1979.
Ordination and ministry
Tobin was ordained a priest for the Redemptorist Order by Archbishop William Cousins at Holy Redeemer College on June 1, 1978. The following year, Tobin returned to Detroit, where he was appointed the parochial vicar of Holy Redeemer Parish. He was later named pastor there, serving from 1984 to 1990. From 1980 to 1986, he served as an episcopal vicar for the Archdiocese of Detroit, and also assisted at the local diocesan marriage tribunal. From 1990 to 1991, Tobin served as pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish in Chicago, Illinois.
Tobin was elected general consultor of the Redemptorists in 1991 and on September 9, 1997, was elected superior general. He was confirmed for a second term as superior general on September 26, 2003. That same year, he became vice-president of the Union of Superiors General. He was also a member of the Council for Relations between the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and the International Union of Superiors General from 2001 to 2009.
In 2005, Tobin participated in a Synod of Bishops in Rome, where he spent a week in a Spanish-language discussion group that included the archbishop of Buenos Aires, who later became Pope Francis and would name Tobin a cardinal.
Tobin spent 2010 taking a sabbatical attached to Blackfriars Hall Priory in Oxford, England, residing with the De La Salle Brothers. He pursued his interest in the rise of secularization and secular culture, attending seminars by anthropologist Peter B. Clarke, studying at the Las Casas Institute and taking classes at Blackfriars. Tobin speaks English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
Roman Curia
In May 2009, Tobin was named to oversee the professed men's element of the Apostolic Visitation of the Church in Ireland, scheduled for September 2010. On August 2, 2010, Tobin was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) and titular archbishop of Obba. Tobin was the second American cleric to head CICLSAL.Tobin learned of his appointment two weeks before it was announced. He recalled:
Tobin received his episcopal consecration in Rome on October 9, 2010. He had said:
When Tobin arrived at CICLSAL, it was already conducting a visitation—a critical inspection of ministries and organization—of the 341 institutes of apostolic women religious in the United States. At the same time, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) was conducting a doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), focused on its theological orthodoxy. In December 2010, Tobin said that the Holy See needed to acknowledge the "depth of anger and hurt" among the nuns that was provoked by the CDF visitation, saying it illustrated the need for a "strategy of reconciliation" with women religious. The CDF issued its report on the LCWR in April 2012; Tobin was reportedly unhappy both with its content and with the failure of the CDF to consult him before releasing it.