VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday (Oct. 18) appointed a high-ranking Vatican prelate as archbishop of Indianapolis after he played a key role in trying to bridge the gap between Rome and U.S. nuns.
Archbishop Joseph William Tobin, a 60-year old Detroit native, was called by Benedict only two years ago to take the role of secretary, or the No. 2 position, of the Vatican department that oversees religious orders all over the world.
In that role, Tobin had struck a notably more conciliatory note than Cardinal Franc Rode, who headed the department until 2011.
In 2008, Rode opened a controversial "visitation" of American nuns, telling Vatican Radio he was worried by their feminist views and secularized mentality.
The visitation was led by Mother Mary Clare Millea, the superior general of the Catholic Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but the Vatican has yet to issue an official report on its results.
A parallel, independent investigation on the largest umbrella group for U.S. nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, was launched by the Vatican doctrinal office. That probe led to the appointment of Seattle Archbishop Peter J. Sartain to overhaul the LCWR's practices and perceived theological ambiguities.
In an interview with National Catholic Reporter soon after his Vatican appointment in August 2010, Tobin said his experience had offered him a “different picture of American women religious than the one that has been presented in Rome. My own impression is extremely positive.”
Coming from a family of Irish descent with 12 brothers and sisters, Tobin served as the head of his religious order, the Redemptorists, from 1997 to 2009.
At a news conference on Thursday morning in Indianapolis, the new archbishop sported a Colts scarf and greeted Latino Catholics in Spanish.
“It is humbling for me to receive this mission in a place where the Catholic Church predates the United States,” he said.
Tobin admitted being surprised by his appointment, but added that neither the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, nor the head of Vatican department for bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, linked his transfer to Indianapolis to the investigation of American nuns.
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Gahanna Ohio | Oct 18, 2012 | 3:45pm
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Brendan Kelleher | Oct 18, 2012 | 8:57pm
Rather muddled post. Abp Tobin came one the scene when the “probe” was well advanced. Further the investigation was as much under the CDF as the Vatican dept that overseas religious life. The CDF when the probe was instituted, was under the leadership of Cardinal William Levada, formerly head of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and the Vatican’s “problems” with the LCWR go back before Cardinal Rode. A conservative block in the US BIshops Conference have consistently been looking for ways reduce the influence of the LCWR, so with Cardinal Levada and Cardinal Rode in place the time was ripe. Abp Tobin had impressed Pope Benedict XVI with his leadership work with an international group of religious life leaders, so he was brought into the Curia - the “good cop” to balance out the enforcers. The absence of his voice at the center will be missed sadly by both male and female religious. It’s all ecclesiastical politics.