Archbishop Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R. Appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Congratulations to Archbishop Joseph Tobin on being appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Indianapolis, Indiana by Pope Benedict XVI. As forecast in the blogosphere by Vaticanisti (expert Vatican watchers) in recent days, the appointment for Archbishop Tobin came at 12:00 noon Vatican time today.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has about 250,000 Catholics out of a total population of 2,500,000. It has 151 parishes and missions, 290 diocesan and religious priests, 578 female religious and 129 male religious. It is rich in religious orders of men and women. Benedictines (O.S.B.) and Franciscans (OFM) make up the majority of the male religious. Female religious numbers are led by the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (SP), whose foundress, Mother Theodore Guerin, was canonized in 2006; the Third Order of Franciscan Sisters of Oldenburg (osf); and the Sisters of Saint Benedict of Beech Grove (O.S.B.).
Archbishop Tobin, up until now the Secretary for the Congregation for Religious in Rome, succeeds Archbishop Daniel Buechlein, O.S.B., who resigned in 2011 due to reasons of health in September 2011. Since then the archdiocese has been administered by the auxiliary bishop, Christopher J. Coyne.
The Indianapolis archdiocese boasts of St. Meinrad’s Seminary and School of Theology, St. Meinrad’s Benedictine Archabbey, Abbey Press, 4 other Catholic colleges, 15 high schools, and 58 grade schools.
Along with Indianapolis, the suffragan dioceses cover the whole state of Indiana: Evansville, Fort Wayne-South Bend, Gary, and Lafayette. Indiana. The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame University, the Archbishop’s favorite football team, is located 150 miles up U.S. Highway 31 in South Bend. The influential Our Sunday Visitor Publishing House is located in the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese also.
Indianapolis is the home of “the greatest spectacle in racing,” the Indianapolis 500, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held on the USA’s annual Memorial Day holiday weekend the last week of May. Among the race’s traditions, the Archbishop is usually invited to give the invocation prior to the famous command that starts the race: “Gentlemen [and Ladies] start your engines!”
Archbishop Tobin will start his Indy engine at a press conference scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Indianapolis time (EDST) today. Archbishop Tobin’s installation is slated for December 3, 2012. It would be expected that he would receive the Metropolitan Archbishop’s pallium in Rome this coming June 29th from the Holy Father.
The Redemptorists (of the former St. Louis Province) served in St. Joseph’s Parish in Lebanon, Indiana, (in the Lafayette diocese) from 1927 to 1972. Currently there are no Redemptorist foundations nor Redemptorists serving full-time in Indiana, although Redemptorist mission teams still evangelize the area.
P. Gary Ziuraitis, C.Ss.R.
Direttore delle Comunicazioni
