[1] In 1975, Tobin received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Holy Redeemer College in Waterford, Wisconsin.

[1] Tobin was ordained a priest for the Redemptorist Order by Archbishop William Cousins at Holy Redeemer College on June 1, 1978.

He spent a week in a Spanish-language discussion group that included Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, the future Pope Francis.

[3] Tobin took a sabbatical to Blackfriars Hall Priory in Oxford, England in 2010, residing with the De La Salle Brothers.

In May 2009, the Vatican named Tobin to oversee the professed men's element of the 2010 Apostolic Visitation of the Church in Ireland.

He said I could take a week to ten days to think about it, so I talked to my superiors, my closest friends in religious life, and my spiritual director.

[7]When Tobin arrived at CICLSAL, it was already conducting a visitation—a critical inspection of ministries and organization—of the 341 institutes of apostolic women religious in the United States.

[11][12] On October 18, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Tobin as archbishop of Indianapolis, a Catholic community of 246,000.

[13] His reassignment from the Curia had been rumored since Tobin expressed his unhappiness with the CDF's highly critical report on the LCWR in April 2012.

Speaking at a meeting of the College Theology Society, he said that: "In my opinion, finger pointing does a great harm to religious life because it makes us defensive ... [and] we feel constantly compelled to defend ourselves against other parties in the church.

[24] In July 2020, Tobin and several other bishops petitioned President Donald Trump to commute the death sentence of Dustin Honken.

Tobin remarked that Honken's execution would "...reduce the government of the United States to the level of a murderer and serve to perpetuate a climate of violence which brutalizes our society in so many ways.

[26] Tobin is a strong advocate of increased acceptance of migrants into the United States and of a lenient position towards undocumented immigrants.

In an interview with The New York Times published on December 22, 2017, Tobin said that he "understand[s] the consternation" among women who find themselves frustrated that they are not permitted to become priests.

"[29] In an interview with NBC's Anne Thompson on April 17, 2019, Tobin said: "The Church, I think, is having its own conversation about what our faith has us do and say with people in relationships that are same-sex.

Tobin was then asked about language in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that refers to homosexuality as "intrinsically disordered."

Tobin commented that "in too many parts of our church, LGBT people have been made to feel unwelcome, excluded, and even shamed.

[32][33][34] On August 25, 2018, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former apostolic nuncio to the United States, released a letter describing a series of warnings to the Vatican regarding alleged sexual misconduct by then-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a predecessor of Tobin in Newark.

"[37] One journalist claims that in a conversation with Tobin that he said that around the time he came to Newark in 2016 he heard "rumors" about McCarrick having slept with seminarians.