As Lifesite News reports:
Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Az. announced in a news conference Tuesday morning that St. Joseph’s Hospital was no longer Catholic after it refused to comply with the bishop’s terms, which included renouncing the direct killing of an unborn baby of a woman suffering from pulmonary hypertension, at 11 weeks gestation.
Read more here.
I droped this in your FB post, as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.arizonacatholic.org/2010/12/23/listen-now-the-bishop-the-hospital-and-the-diocese-of-phoenix/
It's a radio interview released last night. Bishop Olmsted and the diocesan canon lawyer who worked on the case spend 37 minutes going into the nuts and bolts of the case. it was a great interview.
Also, here is the website set up by the Diocese of Phoenix to handle the flood of infoseeking.
http://www.arizonacatholic.org/
Take note of the video taped statement by Bishop Olmsted, then the Q&A session he patiently went through. You can see this was very hard for him, but he did what needed to be done.
http://www.arizonacatholic.org/2010/12/21/video-news-conference-regarding-st-josephs-hospital/
This page contains official and ongoing statement releases, including one released today: http://www.arizonacatholic.org/statements/
Have a blessed Christmas, Father. This will get much more discussion after Christmas!
Bishop Olmsted’s press conference was excellent and very moving – patiently answering the reporters’ questions. He put the issue in perspective, outlining the thought, prayer and engagement that went into his decision. This was not an arbitrary decision taken from a remote authoritative figure. It was evident that it was done with much reluctance but out of concern for the good of souls. He prayed for and would have preferred a different outcome but, acknowledging his responsibility as bishop, he did not flinch from making the difficult decision. A stark contrast to the attitude of his critics.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless and strengthen him.