For "Big Red," The Brickyard – Reports Tip Vatican's Tobin as Indy Archbishop

In a word (or three): Yep – it’s on. Following up his most conservative major appointment on these shores, the Pope is set to “tack left” with a splash for his next big Stateside pick, naming Archbishop Joseph Tobin CSSR, 60 – since 2010, the Vatican’s number-two official on religious life – to lead the 230,000-member archdiocese of Indianapolis.Relayed earlier today by the Vatican service of the Italian daily La Stampa, Whispers ops in the US and Rome have confirmed the move, which is tipped to be announced on Thursday. While talk of the famously gregarious cleric’s departure for Indy had buzzed around the Italian press over recent days, Tobin's potential homecoming to the Indiana post was first reported by The Tablet’s Robert Mickens in his "Letter from Rome" for the London-based weekly’s 2 June edition.One of 13 kids born to a tight-knit Midwestern clan, the archbishop returned to the US yesterday and will reportedly remain in the country until next week.After serving the maximum twelve years as superior-general of the Redemptorists – during which time he was also elected vice-president of the global umbrella-group for the heads of the church’s orders of men, the Union of Superiors General – Tobin famously learned of his appointment as secretary of the “Congregation for Religious” while painting his mother’s house on a summer getaway. By all accounts, the choice of the Detroit native was intended as an olive branch to the US’ communities of women in the wake of the tensions sparked by the 2009 apostolic visitation of the nation’s non-contemplative orders of nuns. While his selection was greeted as a “ray of hope” by the sisters and their supporters (and, indeed, with private sighs of relief by many American bishops), the reaction within the Roman Curia was rather different, an enduring divide highlighted by Tobin’s open admission of "ranting" about its ways, and a public comment that the church’s central government needed “to be humble and make sure it is service and not simply bureaucracy.”The nuns' visitation having concluded early this year as its findings were sent to the religious office for study, the Vatican's course of action as a result of the process remains to emerge. From its start, however, Tobin’s term at what’s formally called the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life was only ever expected to run until the visitation had come in for a “smooth landing”; his return to lead an American archdiocese was well foreseen even before his ordination as a bishop. At the same time, while the beginning of his tenure there came under the lead champion of the sisters' investigation, Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rodé, the deputy’s conciliatory style and premium on dialogue would be echoed months later by the Pope’s choice of the progressive Brazilian Joao Braz de Avis to succeed Rodé on his retirement.Explaining his style in a talk to the 2010 chapter of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Tobin said that his approach on entering a community was that “I am not here as a policeman, nor am I here as a tourist – I'm here about something much more serious: it's about what we have bet our lives on.“You and I have bet our lives on a person, on a message, on the dream of a kingdom," he said.Still to be ordained a bishop at the time, Tobin added that, in a preliminary conversation on accepting the religious post, the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told him that the "mission" of his office was "not to control religious life – it is to encourage religious life."I believe that with all my heart," Tobin said, noting that Bertone's statement made him feel "liberated." "There's no need for fear," he pledged. "We religious ought to be masters of dialogue, because we are masters of the fraternal life – and without dialogue, fraternal life is impossible."Of course, perceptions of a Roman drive to "control" the nation’s 57,000 sisters would erupt again earlier this year on the Holy See’s announcement of a reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the group representing a majority of the communities’ superiors. Yet in a key shift from the 2009 visitation, the action on LCWR would be taken not by Tobin’s staff, but the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.Speaking of the LCWR reform, two of the three US bishops tasked with facilitating the shake-up – Bishops Thomas Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois and Leonard Blair of Toledo – were said to have likewise been among the top tier of contenders for the Indianapolis appointment.* * *Notably, a Tobin move to Indy would see the Hoosier chair – a historically influential post among the US bishops – be filled by consecutive archbishops from religious orders. Yet while the Benedictine Archbishop Daniel Buechlein – an Indiana native who became a monk and longtime rector of the seminary at St Meinrad, thus no stranger to the Indianapolis church – would be known for an austere style, by contrast, his reported successor comes as something of a force of nature: energetic, ebullient, and not exactly famous for being quiet. What’s more, the polyglot Curialist comes particularly well-equipped to fill what’s repeatedly been cited as the key pastoral need of the archdiocese; amid a spike of the Indy church’s Hispanic population over recent years, Tobin served for a decade and a half as pastor of a mostly Mexican parish in Detroit and is fluent in the language.With his mix of a pastoral personality and sharp administrative skills, Tobin has long been cited as a potential contender for the archbishopric of Chicago, which has emerged to the fore over recent months following the recurrence of cancer in Cardinal Francis George’s kidney and a new round of treatment for the 75 year-old prelate, thought to be the American hierarch closest to the Pope. As anything is possible in an appointment process whose results are increasingly unpredictable, an Indy move doesn’t necessarily preclude a further shift west; George himself served as archbishop of Portland for all of ten months before being tapped to return to his hometown. Either way, it bears recalling that – in a unique history for a top American post – every Chicago pick since 1939 was serving as an archbishop elsewhere at the time of his appointment to the Windy City. Over his seven and a half years as Pope, Benedict XVI has extended that distinction in making each of his selections for the traditionally “cardinalatial” seats of New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. An Indy nod would mark Benedict’s 22nd appointment to one of the nation’s 33 Latin-church archdioceses. Another metropolitan handover – Portland, where Archbishop John Vlazny reached the retirement age of 75 in February – is said to be pending.While the transfer of Roman archbishop-secretaries to dioceses in their home countries is a fairly routine practice, the last time it happened in the US church came in 1994, when the then-#2 at the Congregation for Bishops, Justin Rigali, was sent to St Louis after three decades in the Vatican's service. Nine years later, two weeks after his installation in Philadelphia, the LA-born diplomat received the cardinal’s red hat.The arrival of Buechlein's permanent successor could signal a coming transfer for 54 year-old Bishop Christopher Coyne, Indy's apostolic administrator, who was quickly named the archdiocese's first auxiliary since the 1930s early last year in light of the archbishop’s weakening health. Having braved a "baptism by fire" on being thrust into the archdiocese's reins six months after his arrival from a pastorate in suburban Boston, the 54 year-old prelate – the first blogging priest to be named a bishop – has scored loud "Amens" from the locals for a steady, disciplined and energizing turn at the helm.In keeping with the norms of the canons, Tobin's installation would be required to take place within two months of the transfer's official announcement.-30-