On his 75th birthday, Bishop Thomas Olmsted submits resignation as head of Phoenix diocese
The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix submitted his resignation letter on his 75th birthday after serving for 18 years as the head clergyman of the institution.
Thomas J. Olmsted was installed as the bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix in 2003. Olmsted sent a letter of resignation to Pope Francis as he celebrated his birthday on Friday, Jan. 21.
Bishops are required to resign when they turn 75, according to the Catholic Church.
When the pope receives the letter, he may deny the resignation, in which case Olmsted would remain bishop of the diocese for a little while longer. If the pope accepts the resignation, someone new will be appointed to lead the Phoenix diocese.
Olmsted is the fourth person to serve as the bishop of the diocese. The diocese was established in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.
The Most Reverend Eduardo A. Nevares, auxiliary bishop of the diocese, described Olmsted as "a tremendously humble man." Nevares has worked closely with the bishop since joining the diocese in 2010.
"That's exactly how bishop (runs the diocese), being very humble. ... He's one that knows how to delegate and one that trusts people in their positions to know the mind of the bishop and to be his arms and legs to carry out his policies," Nevares said.
According to a 2003 article in The Arizona Republic, it was unexpected when he was appointed to be bishop of the Phoenix diocese.
One of his priorities moving to Phoenix was to get to know the community since he didn't have any prior connections to the area.
"I wanted to get to know the leaders (of the diocese) because they would know the area quite well," Olmsted told The Republic. "That was my priority for the first six months."
A strong focus on marriage, family as head of Phoenix diocese
As bishop, he is responsible for all clergy members of the diocese, as well as all teachings, but his main priority has been supporting the institution of marriage and family.
"When you're working with children, you have to work with their parents because they're the first teachers of their children," he said.
Olmsted's colleagues said he treats everyone who works for the diocese as family too.
He asks about their spouses and children, makes an effort to sit with new people during lunch every day and always says to put family before work, according to members of the diocese's leadership team.
Working in a diocese that serves over a million people makes it difficult to work with everyone, so the bishop holds evangelizing central to the diocese's mission, according to Father John Nahrgang, vicar for evangelization and education of the diocese.
One way he does outreach in the community is by holding Mass for sexual abuse victims twice a year and hosts meetings with them personally.
In the mid-2000s, Olmsted spoke out about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, thus starting his biannual Masses dedicated to survivors.
"This is a horrible scandal within the church, but also within the whole society. ... We have a very deep obligation as the church to reach out to these people whether they've been abused by someone in the church or somebody else in society," Olmsted said.
He also helped develop a list of clergymen in the diocese who have committed sexual abuse and released it to the public in 2012.
The bishop's work encompasses other issues as well.
During his time as bishop, he handled a controversy involving the excommunication of Sister Mary McBride after an abortion took place at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.
McBride excommunicated herself from the church following an abortion she permitted at the hospital in 2009.
Nicole Delaney, director of tribunal for the diocese, explained that there are only a few times that people are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church and one is if you perform or allow someone else to perform an abortion.
Olmsted decided to remove the Catholic status of St. Joseph's after it allowed the abortion. The decision was not taken lightly, according to Delaney.
"It was a painful time," said Mike Phelan, director of marriage and family life. "These decisions were not lightly made. They were after a long series of dialogues. ... Then bishop decided to remove the Catholic status of the hospital."
Olmsted attempts to find other solutions to problems like this before making decisions, members of the leadership team told The Republic.
'Bishop Olmsted is one in a thousand'
Olmsted said he does not have a final plan for when the pope accepts his resignation.
He said he has spent a majority of his life letting "the Holy Spirit guide" him, through his work in the church.
Olmsted was born in Oketo, Kansas, where he grew up with his family on a farm.
He was ordained into the Catholic Church in 1973. He later moved to Rome, where he lived for 16 years earning his master's degree in theology and a doctorate in canon law.
In Italy, he also spent nine years working as an assistant in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church.
Olmsted then served as the bishop of the Diocese of Wichita for two years from 2001 to 2003 before being appointed to the Diocese of Phoenix.
In addition to his work as bishop, Olmsted has served on multiple boards of directors and was a founding member of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders in California.
He doesn't have a plan as to what he wants to do next, but he knows he would like to stay in Arizona and work within the church.
He said there's something special about practicing Catholicism in the desert since so much of the symbolism in the Bible is centered around it as well.
The rest of the diocese awaits Olmsted's successor. "We're praying hard," Nevares said. "Because Bishop Olmsted is one in a thousand."
Reach breaking news intern Jane Florance at jflorance@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @Florance_Jane.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bishop Olmsted to resign after leading Phoenix diocese for 18 years
