Manual for Men

Manual for Men is for men who are in the arena, warriors for Christ and His Church. It is for those men who battle daily for their souls and for their family. It is often a struggle to shed the sins and vices the world offers men, but it’s a battle we must fight and win.

In Part I, Bishop Thomas Olmsted calls for Catholic men to step up and “into the breach” in service to God, their families, parishes, and wider communities. In the course of his exhortation, Olmsted unveils: 

• How being a Christian man is far more than physical prowess or worldly power
• Why the world and the Church desperately need men—real men—to fight for them in spiritual combat
• The vital importance of prayer and the sacraments in the life of every man
• Why fatherhood, fully understood, is so crucial for every man
• The value of devotion to a patron saint (complete with 10 manly suggestions)
• Most importantly, how men have the perfect model of man in Jesus Christ, and how we can follow his example.

In Part II, Cook presents a treasure trove of prayers, church teachings, and writings from the saints that serve as a tremendous source of inspiration for men seeking to become better men of God. It is at once an essential guide and a profound book of prayers designed specifically for men. 

Now, perhaps more than ever, men need to be men. But what it means to be a man has been twisted into a pale and mangled image of true manhood. Manual for Men serves as a field guide and instruction manual for those husbands, fathers, sons and brothers who would become real men of God— men who protect, physically and spiritually, those entrusted to them; men who sacrifice, pray, fight, love, and live by the example of Christ. 

There is a battle for our souls, our families, our world, and Our Lord calls us men to fight. Are you ready to answer the call? Will you accept Bishop Olmsted’s plea to “engage in the battle that is raging around you”?

The Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted

Fourth Bishop of Phoenix

The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., July 2, 1973. He was ­installed as the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix December 20, 2003.

Prior to his arrival in Phoenix he served as Bishop of Wichita, Kansas, after being ordained Coadjutor Bishop on April 20, 1999. Before serving in Wichita, he served as the Rector / President of the Pontifical College Josephinum, a Catholic Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.

Since 1974, Bishop Olmsted has been a member of the Jesus Caritas ­fraternity of priests, and thus has been deeply influenced by the witness and wisdom of Charles de Foucauld and by the prayers and encouragement of many brother priests.

For 16 years, Bishop Olmsted lived in Rome, Italy, where he obtained a master’s degree in theology, a doctorate in Canon Law, and worked more than nine years in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. During the nine years of serving in the Holy See, he resided at the Pontifical North American College and assisted seminarians with spiritual direction.

Having been reared on a family farm on the Kansas-Nebraska border, he attended a single-room grade school near Oketo, Kansas, and a small rural high school in Summerfield, Kansas. His first contact with Catholic schools came when he entered St. Thomas Seminary College in Denver, Colo., from which he graduated in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.