Rome, Italy, Aug 2, 2010 / 06:26 am
Redemptorist Fr. Joseph William Tobin was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the new secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on Monday.
He follows Archbishop Gianfranco Agostino Gardin of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor in the position. The Vatican congregation for religious is headed by prefect Cardinal Franc Rode of the St. Vincent de Paul-founded Congregation of the Mission.
According to a brief biography released by the Holy See, the Detroit-born Fr. Tobin was ordained a priest in 1978 after having received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Holy Redeemer College in Wisconsin and a Master of Religious Education from New York's Mount St. Alphonsus Major Seminary. Following his ordination, he earned a Master of Divinity in 1979 from the same institution.
For the next decade, he served in a parish in Detroit while also working as the episcopal vicar for the archdiocese from 1980-86.