"Be we Christians, Muslims, anything, we have to be together," one resident said.

"We're determined to assure maximum security for all," a police spokesman said.

The government is seeking public comments on how to comply with moral objections to contraceptive coverage.

"My mother gave me the greatest gift a mother can give a child. She gave me the gift of my Catholic faith," Piazza said.

"I never imagined such a horrible thing happening," said Chikara Inabayashi, who was tending his watermelon patch. "I was astonished, that's the only thing I can say."

"We always pray for our Catholic leaders that they make the right choice, act in the best judgment and in good conscience knowing the values and teachings of the Catholic Church," the Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond's statement read.