A gathering of Bishops from around the world produced a recommendation to Pope Benedict that celibacy for priests is vitally important despite a shortage of priests. Of course the news writers had to get in their obligatory blow, and it comes from a couple of liberal groups, of course:

"They opened the issue, talked solutions, then ran as fast as they could in the other directions," said Sister Christine Schenk, of the reform groups FutureChurch and Call to Action. We Are Church, another reform group, said in a statement it regretted the bishops' "lack of courage" to make any concrete changes.

In fact, the bishops made the more courageous decision to not open up the priesthood to a new group of people (married men). It would have been easy to say "chuck thousands of years worth of traditions" considering the horrible shortage of priests. I'm quite certain there had to be a group or two of people out there who would have said this, too, but the media is always looking to drive a wedge where there isn't really one. Also, I've got to ask: Are there any Catholic women out there who would really like to be a priest? I have yet to meet one. I know there are some out there, but they are usually among the groups like those cited in this article, who probably would tell you they don't agree with a lot of other Church teachings. In other words, it's never just the woman who faithfully follows Catholicism in every regard but has a burning desire to be a priest.