Bishop J. Mark Spalding has visited the affected pastors and churches in Nashville and offered prayers of support for all those suffering from the trauma of the disaster.

Fingerprinting is now required of the bishop; all priests and deacons; all seminarians; all Catholic school principals, teachers, staff and certain volunteers; as well as chancery staff.

The Dominican sisters are motivated by a recognition that the blinding racism that allowed nuns to buy and sell human beings in the past could blind them to their own complicity in racist structure today.

Thomas Merton wrote an introduction to a lyrical book of reflections by Cardenal, Vida en Amor: “In a time of conflict, anxiety, war, cruelty, and confusion, the reader may be surprised that this book is a hymn in praise of love, telling us that ‘all things love one another.’”

His statement came in response to angry reaction to the Mass by Robert Hoatson, co-founder of Road to Recovery, an sexual abuse victims' advocacy group.

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis shared some advice from the Minnesota Catholic Conference with priests and deacons in the archdiocese: It might be best not to vote in the March 3 presidential primary.