Vatican names Archbishop Joseph Tobin head of Indianapolis archdiocese

Formal announcement made Thursday

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Archbishop Joseph Tobin
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Posted: 10/17/2012
Last Updated: 213 days ago

Norman Cox | Email Me
TheIndyChannel.com Staff

INDIANAPOLIS - An American-born priest was appointed to be the next archbishop of Indianapolis.

Archbishop Joseph Tobin, 60, worked in Detroit and Chicago before taking his current high-ranking Vatican post in 2010.

The Vatican made the formal announcement Thursday morning and Tobin said he was surprised by his new appointment.

"If you look at scripture, it's full of a lot of surprised people. People in exile, people forgotten. A world that thought God lived well beyond the last star, only to discover that God so loved the world that he sent his only son," Tobin said.

Tobin introduced himself as a man of faith and family, a man who grew up in a home with 13 children and one bathroom. Even though his father died when the youngest child was only 5, all of them went to college and remain faithful Catholics.

"My dad never once... sent me to church. He took me with him. And kneeling next to him growing up, I said to myself, 'I want to be like him,'" Tobin said.

Tobin paid homage to his predecessor, Archbishop Daniel Buechlein, who retired because of poor health 13 months ago, and he marked the symbolism of the transition by pulling out and donning a Colts scarf.

Tobin said he defines faith as the ability to be surprised by God, and he said he was surprised by this appointment, because he hadn't asked for and wasn't expecting a transfer.

The new archbishop headed a Vatican investigation into whether American nuns had become too secular and too political. Afterward he called for reconciliation with the nuns and became known by them as a sympathetic figure.

"I think that they'll understand that I appreciate and value their vocation," he said. "I think the recent events in the American church have helped the American church as a whole come to a deepened appreciation of the vocation of women religious."

His first official act will be a Mass Friday at the Little Sisters of the Poor on the northwest side.

"We're astounded," said Sister Mary Vincent Manion, with Little Sisters of the Poor. "I think it's wonderful. I think it proves he loves to work with the poor... I'm delighted that he's coming."

Indianapolis , IN

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