40 Months in Phoenix
with Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted

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EVANGELIZATION

You’ve asked the Phoenix Diocese to make 2007 a year of evangelization. In fact, a few ministries based here at the Diocesan Pastoral Center have incorporated the word evangelization into their formal titles. How do you see this focus on evangelization benefiting the faithful? Why is it important that we as Catholics recognize our calling to spreading the Gospel message?

BISHOP OLMSTED: The focus on evangelization began very strongly about 1975, when Pope Paul VI issued a document called Evangelium Nuntiandi, “Announcing the Gospel.” And since then the word evangelization has become more and more commonly heard and widely used in the Church.

It was especially John Paul II, however, who really made us aware of evangelization, because he was such an evangelizer. From the moment he was selected, we could see his great desire to go out to the people and to bring them the Good News of Christ.

Evangelization is not so much about a message as it is about a person and an event: Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. To evangelize means that we bring people the Good News of Jesus Christ.

It seems to me that if I’m not eager to bring this Good News of Christ to others, then I’m not really grateful for the gift myself. If I really love someone, I want to tell other people about this person, especially if the one I love is also the one who has redeemed the world, has redeemed every living person.

So evangelization is a very personalized mission of the Church. It’s helping our people to realize that they have not only received a great treasure in coming to believe in Christ and to love Him, but they have received also the grace to tell others about Christ and to help others to become part of His life.

It was through this then, that you saw a need within the Diocesan Pastoral Center to refocus some of these ministries to include that?

BISHOP OLMSTED: Yes. I think the word evangelization has more dynamism in it and brings with it a greater sense of personal dimension, than does the word “ministry” or the word “office.” So I think we picked up that dynamism in John Paul II, that he brought such a new energy because he had such a keen sense that he had been loved by Christ and given the privilege of being His messenger. If the Church can get a sense that we’re an evangelizing community of faith, we’ll also be able to pick up that same spirit of enthusiasm for Him and for the Good News.

CHURCH AND SOCIETY

This is your 40th month as bishop of Phoenix, and in that time some people describe your leadership as bold and invigorating (outspoken advocate for life, providing for the Tridentine Rite, renewed spiritual focus, etc.), while others are wondering why things have to change at all (such as with confirmation and restoring the order of the sacraments of initiation). And then there are some who wish you and the Church would either be more vocal or keep quiet on societal issues such as immigration, marriage, and the role of faith in public life.

Why is it important for the Church to provide direction for Catholics on matters of faith and society? And on a personal level, what’s it like to be the focal point for all things Catholic, on issues popular and unpopular alike?

BISHOP OLMSTED: From the beginning, Christ said: Go, teach to all nations. So He sends us out, and that sense of mission has been with us in every single age.

In most places and at most times in the past 2,000 years, it has seemed as if we are rather small in comparison to this huge challenge that lies before us. And that’s certainly the way we feel today. As you look at the present scene, I think that our culture is becoming less and less a culture that supports faith. There are wonderful elements within it that give us hope, but there are other elements that are quite antagonistic to people of faith. So it’s our mission of teaching and engaging this culture, we have to be involved. We cannot step backwards.

There’s always been the temptation to withdraw from the world, to withdraw from that public engagement. And that’s a very enticing temptation. You don’t get into trouble that way. Apathy is one of the seven capital sins and it’s the one you never get in trouble for. Whereas to lift up the Good News of Christ and to speak about the dignity of the human persons that are often not recognized or that are overlooked, will inevitably be controversial at times.

But this is certainly one of our primary duties. Who else will speak up for the unborn child? Who else will speak up for the newly arrived immigrants? Who else will speak up for those people that are fragile and weak, at the end of their life, if it isn’t the Church? So we have the privilege but also the serious responsibility of engaging our culture and doing it with confidence in God, with humility, but at the same time courage.

How do you handle knowing that some decisions may be unpopular or difficult?

BISHOP OLMSTED: What I try to do is understand what it is God wants me to say, and not worry about whether it’s going to be popular or unpopular. I think it’s hard to know for sure — sometimes it’s pretty predictable because we have heard already voices that are directly contrary to that, which is why we have to speak out — but many other times we don’t really know, but we just try to say, is this really God’s will? Is this really rooted in the Church’s teachings? Then it’s my responsibility to teach it as clearly as I can, as persuasively as I can, as gently as I can. Whether it’s popular or unpopular, I need to be free from worrying about that.

I think on a personal level, when there’s opposition there, that’s when the Prayer of Abandonment becomes even more helpful to me, because the One I’m serving is the One with whom I’m wanting prayer. So when I kneel before Him, I want to be able to say, “Here I am, I come to do your will. If I’m not doing it correctly, please let me know.” And that gives me an inner freedom to do what I think He’s asking me to do.

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