Ostrich doctrine

The Catholic Church has once more given proof to why the flocks continue to dwindle and why attracting new disciples is more difficult each year. The three week Synod of Bishops, which started on October 2nd has completed crafting a list of 50 recommendations for Pope Benedict.

Saying yes, there is a problem attracting new priests and acknowledging that sometimes Masses cannot be held for weeks or months due to the shortage, the bishops again reaffirmed celibacy. Apparently, they also didn't think that chasing gays from the church and not allowing women to become priests might cause some shortages too.

The low numbers of priests seemed to dominate discussions and a suggestion for allowing “married men of virtue” to be ordained was also summarily rejected. They did however have a wonderful idea to “call on Catholics to pray for new priests”. Wow – talk about taking action! Here was another bright idea from the Synod – let's share priests between dioceses.

The proposals are a "massive restatement" regarding the church's celibacy rule and other church traditions, according to Cardinal Pell of Australia.