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  1. VALERIE SCHULTZ: Film documents battle for women to be priests

    By The Bakersfield Californian
    Monday, May 21 2012 11:38 AM

    There are things we Catholics are not supposed to consider. Sometimes those things may take up residence in our souls, however, and we feel nudged by the Spirit to ponder them. Such is the issue of the ordination of women to the Catholic priesthood.

    A patriarchal wind has long blown from Rome, engulfing both women and men. In spite of a shortage of vocations to the priesthood, any discussion of ordaining Catholic women has been labeled a "grave scandal" by the Vatican, a description that perhaps applies more aptly to the decades-long crisis of sexual abuse of children by ordained men, for which the church hierarchy is still trying to atone. On Holy Thursday of this year, Pope Benedict XVI used his global pulpit to reprimand priests, especially those in Ireland and Austria, who have spoken up in support of the ordination of women, and to denounce any discussion of the topic as "disobedience."

    Thus it is that when the documentary "Pink Smoke Over the Vatican" is shown in Bakersfield, there will not be a local priest or sister participating in the panel discussion following the screening. Produced and directed by Jules Hart, this 2011 award-winning documentary explores the controversial ordination of women to the Catholic priesthood. The women priests, in answering their calling, have been excommunicated from the church, a penalty that, as loyal Catholics obedient to the Holy Spirit, they reject.

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  2. RICHARD BEENE: Bakersfield Observed, a blog about life, media, politics and people

    By Richard Beene
    Monday, May 21 2012 05:06 AM

  3. Sound Off -- Reader: "If I had a hammer, I'd smack someone"

    BY JOHN ARTHUR Californian Executive Editor
    Sunday, May 20 2012 05:00 AM

  4. D.A. investigating supervisors' secret meetings

    By Lois Henry
    Saturday, May 19 2012 10:15 PM

  5. Last standing anti-Romney still plugs away

    By ROBERT PRICE
    Saturday, May 19 2012 10:03 PM

  6. RIC LLEWELLYN: We should expect government to perform within its charters

    By Ric Llewellyn
    Saturday, May 19 2012 12:00 PM

  7. HERB BENHAM: Where angels, headless or not, fear to tread

    By The Bakersfield Californian
    Saturday, May 19 2012 12:00 PM

  8. SCOTT COX: Quality is best avenger against hype

    By The Bakersfield Californian
    Friday, May 18 2012 12:29 PM

  9. VALERIE SCHULTZ: If hair is one's top worry, how bad can life be?

    By Valerie Schultz
    Friday, May 18 2012 10:03 AM

  10. HERB BENHAM: A glorious day for a glorious sport--unless you're riding

    By The Bakersfield Californian
    Friday, May 18 2012 07:00 AM

  11. RICHARD BEENE: Bakersfield Observed, a blog about life, media, politics and people

    By Richard Beene
    Thursday, May 17 2012 06:41 PM

  12. County to pay $1 million to family whose child was taken

    By Lois Henry
    Wednesday, May 16 2012 07:31 PM

  13. CAMILLE GAVIN: Open for discussion: 'h#sht#g'

    By The Bakersfield Californian
    Wednesday, May 16 2012 06:25 PM