LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT

 Father Tobin was born in Detroit, Michigan, USA on May 3. 1952. He is the oldest of 13 children of Joseph (deceased) and Marie Terese Tobin. Father Tobin was baptized at and attended a Redemptorist Parish, Holy Redeemer Church, and entered the Redemptorist minor seminary in the autumn of 1966. He entered novitiate in July 1972 and on August 5, 1973 he made his first profession. He completed his philosophy studies at Holy Redeemer College, Waterford, Wisconsin and theology studies at Mt. St. Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, NY, USA earning Masters Degrees in Religious Education and Divinity. Father Tobin made his perpetual profession on August 21, 1976 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 1, 1978.

From 1979 to 1990 he served first as parochial vicar and then later as pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish, Detroit Michigan - the parish of his youth. , He also served the local Church as an episcopal vicar and judge in the metropolitan tribunal. In 1990 he was named pastor of St. Alphonsus Church in Chicago, Illinois. Both assignments included extensive ministry to Hispanic speaking people. In 1991, he was elected by the XXI General Chapter in Itaici, Brazil to serve as a General Consultor to then Superior General, Father Juan Manual Lasso de la Vega, and transferred to Rome.

In 1997, the XXII General Chapter celebrated in West End, New Jersey, USA, elected Father Tobin Superior General and he was re-elected by the XXIII General Chapter in 2003 held in Rome. During his service as Superior General, the Union of Superiors General (USG) twice elected Father Tobin as their Vice President. He was also selected to be a member of five Synods of Bishops (1998, 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2008).

In June of this year the Holy Father asked Father Tobin to be one of two apostolic visitors for religious orders of men in Ireland to assist the Irish Church in the wake of the sex abuse scandals.

 Father Tobin succeeds Archbishop Gianfranco Agostino Gardin, O.F.M. Conv., as Secretary for the Congregation for Religious, who was named Ordinary of the diocese of Trevino, Italy on December 18, 2009. (Archbishop Gardin, incidentally, holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Alphonsianum.)

The current Prefect of the Congregation for Religious is Cardinal Frank Rodé, CM (Congregation of the Mission) of Slovenia.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (Congregatio pro Institutis Vitae Consecratae et Societatibus Vitae Apostolicae; CIVCSVA) is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for everything that concerns institutes of consecrated life (orders and religious congregations, both of men and of women, secular institutes) and Societies of Apòstolic Life regarding their government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and privileges.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has its origins in the "Sacred Congregation for Consultations about Regulars" established by Pope Sixtus V on May 27, 1586. Its name was changed in 1908 to the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious; changed again to the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes in 1967 by Pope Paul VI; and finally to its current name by Pope John Paul II in 1988

Father Michael Brehl, successor to Father Tobin as Superior General, expressed the reaction of the Redemptorist Congregation: "The Redemptorists are very proud of Fr. Joseph Tobin as he accepts this new mission. He served our Congregation and the Church very well as our Superior General. This appointment will bring his gifts and experience to the service of all Religious priests, brothers and sisters. His love for God and the people of God, and especially his love for the poor and abandoned, will be the heart of this ministry."