Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, C.SS.R., Archbishop of Newark, United States of America, was born in Detroit, Michigan, on 3 May 1952.  He entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, making first vows on 5 August 1972 and solemn vows on 21 August 1976.  He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Holy Redeemer College in Waterford, Wisconsin, in 1975, a master’s degree in religious education in 1977, and a master’s degree in divinity from Mount Saint Alphonsus Major Seminary in Esopus, New York, in 1979.

He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1978 and served as an assistant priest (1979-1984); then pastor (1984-1990) of Holy Redeemer Parish in Detroit; Episcopal Vicar of the Archdiocese of Detroit (1980-1986); and pastor of St Alphonsus Parish in Chicago (1990-1991).

He was elected General Consultor of the Redemptorists in 1991 and Superior General on 9 September 1997. He was confirmed in this office on 26 September 2003. In the same year he became Vice President of the Union of Superiors General.

 He was also a member of the Council for Relations between the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and the International Unions of Superiors General (2001-2009).

He was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on 2 August 2010 and at the same time elevated to the Titular See of Obba with the dignity of Archbishop, receiving episcopal consecration on 9 October 2010.

On 18 October 2012, the Holy Father Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Indianapolis.

On 7 November 2016, the Holy Father Francis appointed him Archbishop of Newark.

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 19 November 2016, and was assigned the titular church Santa Maria della Grazie a Via Trionfale.

Member of:

• Council for the Economy;
• Dicasteries: for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; for Bishops; for Culture and Education; for Promoting Christian Unity;
• Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.