The following comes from an April 8 story on LifeSiteNews.
Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted led more than 150 pro-life Catholics on Good Friday in praying the rosary at a local abortion facility.
The Good Friday Rosary for Life was offered for the unborn in union with Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, according to the Facebook event page established by the Diocese of Phoenix.
At the event, the bishop compared the slaughter of unborn children by abortion with the crucifixion of Christ.
“This is Calvary — this is where the innocent is unjustly killed just as Jesus was on Calvary,” Bishop Olmsted said, according to a report from the Catholic Sun.
The bishop has led the rosary at an abortion site on Good Friday every year since his 2003 appointment in the Phoenix diocese. This year the Good Friday rosary was prayed at the Glendale Planned Parenthood.
At the event Bishop Olmsted stressed the importance of solidarity with the vulnerable unborn.
“We need to be standing in communion with them and also be here for their mothers and for others,” he said. “We can assure them that there’s another way and there’s certainly a much better choice they could make.”
The Glendale Planned Parenthood performs abortions up to 24 weeks, one week shy of what’s considered medically viable. Local 40 Days for Life coordinator Anita Usher told the Catholic Sun she’s seen mothers who are visibly pregnant going into the abortion facility.
Women continued to enter the facility during the Good Friday rosary led by Bishop Olmsted.
“Come talk to me,” a prayer participant called to one of them. “Don’t do this. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life. We can help you. I’ll adopt your baby.”
….Bishop Olmsted was not the only member of the Catholic clergy witnessing to life along with the faithful in Phoenix on Good Friday. Several seminarians and priests joined him.
Father Joseph Terra, FSSP, was one of two priests violently assaulted in June 2014 in a botched robbery at their Phoenix-area parish of Mater Misericordiae. He suffered serious injuries from being beaten that day, and his fellow priest, Father Kenneth Walker, FSSP, just 28 years old and having just celebrated his second anniversary of ordination, died from gunshot wounds in the attack.
The two priests were known for their conviction to defense of life, including public prayer at abortion sites.
“Every time that I went to pray during the 40 Days for Life at the abortion places, [Father Walker] was there with Father Terra,” Bishop Olmsted said at the time of the attack. “They are faithful priests, joyfully serving their people.”
Father Terra has continued to perform public prayer for life since the attack and Father Walker’s death, with this year as no exception.
“We do this every year,” Father Terra said regarding the Good Friday rosary. “I spend a lot of time out here every week. When the most innocent of all lives is taken, why not?”
In the USA, there are approx. 1 MILLION Abortions each year.
The intentional murder of the most innocent of human beings.
Here is the Abortion Clock for 2015:
https://www.numberofabortions.com/
Israel has an alarming abortion rate as well, even higher than the US and American neo-cons have largely turned a blind eye to this. Thank God people like Mark Gordon and Matt Abbot have exposed this hypocrisy as well https://www.priestsforlife.org/library/5214-israel-america-and-the-abortion-holocaust https://www.aleteia.org/en/world/article/are-american-taxpayers-underwriting-israeli-abortions-6099060121403392 Faithful Catholics, PLEASE stop listening to AM radio neo-cons! Read some Pat Buchanan and his articles about Israel and Iran instead.
A TRUE SHEPHERD OF JESUS’ CHURCH!!!
WE PRAYED THE STATIONS DURING MOST OF THE FRIDAYS OUTSIDE THE ABORTION MILL ALSO DURING LENT. IT WAS SO APPROPRIATE!!!
AMEN to that Elizabeth!
Bp. Olmsted has been doing this for 12 years and this is the first I’ve heard of it. Let’s hear more stories like this!
Peggy I agree. Usually bad news and gossip travels faster but good wholesome news is not usually magnified because people want to make us believe that the whole church has gone bad but we know the truth and we trust in Jesus promises. God bless this holy bishop and all holy priests and bishops who serve God faithfully.
Here indeed is a watchman on the wall as foretold by the Prophet Ezekiel. If the Bishop fails to warn, God will hold him responsible for the sin. If the Bishop warns and the person turns away from sin, neither the Bishop nor the person will be accountable. But if the Bishop warns and the person ignores God’s warning, then the shepherd has been faithful to the Lord and the person will be held accountable for the sin.
Here is a shepherd who seeks out the strayed to bring them back into the fold. here is a shepherd who will bind up the injured, the sick and promote healing and strength. I applaud this faithful shepherd of the Lord who seeks the will of God over the comfort and safety of himself. Bravo. Bravo. Servant of the Lord, we give thanks to God for Bishop Olmsted.