November 30, 2012

Archbishop Tobin discusses his planned approach to leading the archdiocese in his first year

In Conversation with Archbishop Tobin logo“What I hope to do at the beginning is [to follow the advice] of two wonderful aunts, my mother’s two older sisters, who lived with us. They were both administrators in Detroit public schools. When I was first named a pastor, they said, ‘Do nothing for six months. But learn, learn.’

“Obviously, I’ll do what I have to do. But what I really want to do is learn. I want to learn about the interior workings of the Catholic Center and the people here. I want to begin to learn about the clergy and the religious.

“And, in a personal sense, I’d like, as much as possible, to develop the beginnings of a healthy life here. And a healthy life for me means, ‘When each day am I going to have time to pray in silence? When will I have time to study?’ I think one of the hard things is that if you get too busy, you really have nothing more to say to people because you haven’t studied, you haven’t thought.

“I want to be patient. I’m not going to learn 39 counties overnight or in six months.

“I have no program for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. It would be really arrogant to think that I do. I come with the Gospel in my hand. And I hope to listen to the people and, together, hear what the Gospel says to us today.” †

Local site Links: