Backbone award: Bishop Olmsted



Bishop Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona has revoked consent for St John's Hospital and medical center in Phoenix to use the name "Catholic" or to be identified as Catholic. The reason for this decision is set out in a separate notice, mentioning particularly the hospital's being responsible for contraception, sterilisation and abortion.

At the Diocese of Phoenix website, there is the video featured above in which Bishop Olmsted makes a statement and answers questions. Several people have pointed to the answer he gives at about 23'30" on the reactions to him in the Catholic blogosphere. His answer drew applause:
I really don't read the blogospheres. I try to pray each day to find my identity in Jesus Christ. I start my day every day with an hour of adoration. I celebrate the Eucharist. I pray morning prayer, midday prayer, evening prayer and night prayer. My identity comes from Christ. Christ is present in his living body, the Church: that's my identity, it comes from that. If I'm unfaithful to that, then whether I'm looked at one way or another, if I'm given praise or whether I'm given ridicule, it doesn't matter. What I'm called to be is faithful to Jesus Christ and his Church.
I think you will agree that it is a shoo-in for Bishop Olmsted to receive the "backbone award."

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