Early life Thomas Olmsted was born on January 21, 1947, in
Oketo, Kansas, to Pat and Helen Olmsted; he has two brothers and three sisters. Raised on a farm in
Beattie, Kansas, he attended a single-room grade school and a small rural high school in
Summerfield, Kansas. He then studied at
St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in
Denver, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1969.
Priesthood Olmsted was
ordained to the priesthood in Rome at the Basilica of Saint Peter by Bishop
James Aloysius Hickey on July 2, 1973, for the
Diocese of Lincoln. After his ordination, the diocese assigned Olmsted as an associate pastor at the
Cathedral of the Risen Christ Parish until 1976, when he began his
doctoral studies in Rome. During this period, he also worked as an assistant
spiritual director at the
Pontifical North American College in Rome. In 2008, after the diocese had spent several million dollars to settle about 20 sexual abuse
lawsuits, Olmsted led an initiative to shield diocesan assets by incorporating local parishes individually. From January 2008 to February 2009, Olmsted served as
apostolic administrator of the
Diocese of Gallup, acting as that diocese's interim leader until the appointment of Bishop
James S. Wall. In July 2021, in response to
Pope Francis' motu proprio
Traditionis Custodes, which restricts the celebration of the
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), Olmsted issued a decree allowing the TLM to continue in the diocese under his dispensation pursuant to Canon 87 of the Code of Canon Law. Early in 2022, one of Olmsted's pastors resigned after learning he that he had used the incorrect words when performing thousands of baptisms. Olmsted explained the importance of using the correct language in a letter to parishioners and said he believed the error, however inadvertent, required new baptisms.
Retirement Francis accepted Olmsted's resignation as bishop of Phoenix on June 10, 2022. Olmsted, despite his retirement, was to remain apostolic administrator of the
Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Protection of Mary of Phoenix. On August 1, 2018, Francis named Olmsted as
apostolic administrator sede plena of the
Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Protection of Mary of Phoenix On August 23, 2021, he was named apostolic administrator
Sede vacante when Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop
John Pazak. The pope replaced Olmsted as apostolic administrator on January 1, 2023, with Bishop
Kurt Burnette from the
Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Passaic in New Jersey.
Excommunication of Margaret McBride In May 2010, Olmsted declared that Sister
Margaret McBride, a member of the ethics committee of
St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, was automatically
excommunicated after permitting a patient to undergo an
abortion there. The patient was a woman who was 11 weeks pregnant and suffering from
pulmonary hypertension. Hospital doctors had told the committee that the likelihood of the patient dying if the pregnancy was not terminated to be "close to 100 percent". Olmsted accused McBride of permitting a "direct abortion," which according to the Catholic Church is always wrong. He stated that she admitted to him giving “... her consent that the abortion was a morally good and allowable act according to Church teaching". "Since she gave her consent and encouraged an abortion she automatically excommunicated herself from the Church.” As a result of the McBride case, and because the hospital refused to ban future abortions, Olmsted in December 2010, severed the diocese's ties with St. Joseph's and stated that it could no longer refer to itself as "a Catholic hospital".
Relations with Sheriff Joe Arpaio In 2009, a photograph became public showing Olmsted standing alongside Maricopa County Sheriff
Joe Arpaio at the tent city jail in Phoenix. Olmsted was accused of given Arpaio permission to use the photo in his re-election campaign. The diocese denied the charges, stating: "Despite these allegations, we are fairly certain this never happened, and if it did, it was something we were completely unaware of and done without Bishop Olmsted's knowledge or consent." == Viewpoints ==