Bishop Olmstead of Phoenix on contraception:

Birth control is a grave wrong that is at the root of many of the problems afflicting American society, Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said in a series of articles that reopened a contentious debate in the church and augmented his credentials as one of the most conservative bishops in the nation.

Olmsted now is one of only three bishops in the country to require a full course of natural family planning for anyone who wants a church wedding, joining his counterparts in Denver and Fargo, N.D. Natural family planning is the only church-approved method of birth control.

Phoenix previously has been one of only about 60 U.S. dioceses to require an introduction to the method, which relies on charting ovulation cycles and abstinence during a woman’s fertile periods.