[TotusTuus]

Christmas came early this year for Desdemona and other seriously Catholic folk in the St. Louis Archdiocese as Pope John Paul II sent them ...

And let us not forget the Christmas present given to the good people of the Diocese of Phoenix. Namely, this holy Bishop:

A conservative Catholic bishop, handpicked by Pope John Paul II for most of his clerical assignments over a 30-year career, takes over next month as spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.

The appointment Tuesday of the Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, bishop of Wichita, Kan., fits a pattern of several recent bishop assignments: a church leader who studied and worked in Rome, is considered orthodox in his belief and faithful to the pope.

He was on nobody's short list for the appointment. That "hand-picked" connotation by the Pope has a nice ring to it. I'm telling you, Phoenix just might blossom under his care. He has a core of young and upcoming orthodox Priests scattered throughout several parishes to assist his oversight. The future looks bright, very bright!

[TotusTuus]

Hey Jeff, do you know if Fr. Doug Lorig of St. Anne's is still active in the "bi-ritual" situation at St. Thomas Byzantine Catholic Church in Gilbert?

[RobbyS]

Wow! REome has said" O.K. we have let you guys choose and you have come up with some real bummers. They must feel like the guys at the Pantagon who "can't wait" for Rummy's next move. So much for the old career track.

[saradippity]

I believe we are very fortunate,i hadn't heard about the move of the tabernacle,good for Fr. Lorig.

It was funny to read comments from the prevailing power structure when the appointment of Bishop Olmsted was announced. In the first interview,one said they were "shocked" at this selection from the Vatican.

I think that was "code" to the pew sleepers that they were supposed to be upset along with the "shock". Fortunately,this same power structure deadened the minds and souls of so many of the faithful,that the faithful were not aware of how dreadful the method of selection was,having long ago lost any sense of connection between our local church and the Catholic Church led by Peter from the Vatican.Most of them probably wondered why Viacom had anything to do with the appointment of the Bishop anyway,but what the heck,"oh well". They (the old powere brokers)are now trying to figure out what to do next.

Another piece of good news is/was that Father Corapi gave a two day retreat at "Our Lady of Joy" last week. Two years ago a friend of mine had arranged for him to give a retreat,it was cancelled by his superior after a word from our bishop.

Also the Catholic Sun whose publiher,Chris Gunty,is now on his way to Florida to continue corrupting six Florida dioceses with his poisonous publisher's pen seems to have allowed two priests' letters to the editor, expressing a Catholic moral view to be printed. It is just one minor miracle after another.

[kstewskis]

Jay, have you seen this yet, re: WI?

He was on nobody's short list for the appointment. That "hand-picked" connotation by the Pope has a nice ring to it. I'm telling you, Phoenix just might blossom under his care. He has a core of young and upcoming orthodox Priests scattered throughout several parishes to assist his oversight. The future looks bright, very bright!

We can only continue to pray for our diocese's future!

[BlackElk]

JP II and the Congregation on Bishops have been racking up a terrific stream of appointments to American sees lately. I have noted the appointment of Archbishop Olmstead, who will be a major improvement over his thoroughly AmChurch predecessor.

We now have adjacent dioceses of Chicago, Rockford, Peoria, La Crosse, Madison and Milwaukee under solid prelates, St. Louis helps us to sandwich the remaining AmChurch dioceses in Illinois. Imesch of Joliet should be the next AmChurch soldier to topple. We need to add Green Bay on the north, Springfield in southern Illinois, reach out to South Bend, Indiana and Iowa.

If Bishop Olmstead has a good core of young orthodox priests and develops more, maybe Cardinal Rigali (formerly Vice Chairman of the Congregation on Bishops) can cooperate in establishing a similar Kumbaya-free zone in the southwest, by seeing some of them named as bishops in the area.

Do you know what happened to former Bishop Garner (?) of Wichita who preceded Bishop Olmstead there? He was a pro-life warrior and a relatively young and newly appointed bishop when I became aware of him during trials of pro-lifers at Wichita in 1991.