News Briefs

Barbara Moore, a sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet who 50 years ago this March participated in the civil rights march in Selma, Ala., said that events in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere show that more needs to be done on race relations in the United States. • Marking International Women’s Day2015 on March 8, leaders from the United Nations’ three Rome-based food agencies gathered to remind the world that women farmers play a central role in achieving food and nutrition security. • The Catholic Church in Russian-occupied Crimea fears it will lose its legal status after it refused to adhere to a March 1 deadline for reregistering under Russian law. • Addressing the United Nations in Geneva on March 6, the Holy See’s permanent observer, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, said no one is exempt from the impact of climate change. • Delighted by “a new beginning,” Maria Lioba Zezulka, prioress of the Visitandine Order, described in early March how Germany’s 12th-century Beuerberg Abbey will be converted to housing for refugee families who have fled from Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and other conflict zones.