Bishop who barred Irish nun refused autistic child communion

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Bishop who barred Irish nun refused autistic child communion

'Hardline Catholic' Olmsted also tried to shield diocese from sex abuse suits

By ANTOINETTE KELLY, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, May 17, 2010, 11:54 PM

Updated Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 8:17 AM

J. Olmsted, the Catholic bishop at the center of the abortion

excommunication controversy once refused communion to a 10-year-old child with

autism.

He refused to allow the child, who could not swallow, to take communion.

Olmsted, of Phoenix, Arizona, also tried to shield his archdiocese from clerical

sex abuse suits by incorporating the local parishes individually.

Tellingly, he did not speak out on behalf of the victims, preferring to protect

the financial interests of the Church.

Olmsted, described as a " hardline Catholic, " is drawing major fire after his

decision to excommunicate a nun who approved an abortion to save a pregnant

woman's life.

Olmsted condemned Sister Margaret McBride, a Catholic nun and a long time

administrator at St. ph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, after she

backed the ethics committee's decision to terminate an 11-week pregnancy to save

the mother's life.

Olmsted said she had to be " automatically excommunicated. "

The patient concerned had a rare and often fatal condition in which the

pregnancy can cause the death of the mother.

Suzanne Pfister, a hospital vice president, defended the hospital's action.

" In this tragic case, treatment required the termination of an 11-week

pregnancy, " Pfister said.

Olmsted disagreed.

He said he was " gravely concerned " by the hospital's decision and said, " I am

further concerned by the hospital's statement that the termination of a human

life was necessary to treat the mother's underlying medical condition.

" An unborn child is not a disease. While medical professionals should certainly

try to save a pregnant mother's life, the means by which they do it can never be

by directly killing her unborn child. The end does not justify the means. "