Franciscan Sister Florence Deacon (center), newly installed president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, is joined by president-elect Sister Carol Zinn (left), a Sister of St. Joseph, and immediate past president Franciscan Sister Pat Farre ll during the closing Mass at the organization's assembly in St. Louis Aug 10, 2012. (CNS photo/Sid Hastings) VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis reaffirmed the Vatican's call for reform of the U.S.-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Archbishop Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the U.S.-based nuns' group that he had "recently discussed the doctrinal assessment with Pope Francis, who reaffirmed the findings of the assessment and the program of reform for this conference of major superiors."

The doctrinal congregation met April 15 with the LCWR leadership and Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who had been assigned by the Vatican to oversee the reform of the pontifically recognized leadership group.

LCWR, in a statement on its website, said its representatives included Franciscan Sister Florence Deacon, president; Sister Carol Zinn, a Sister of St. Joseph, president-elect; and Sister Janet Mock, a Sister of St. Joseph and the organization's executive director.

LCWR is a Maryland-based umbrella group that claims about 1,500 leaders of U.S. women's communities as members, representing about 80 percent of the country's 57,000 women religious.

Hector Davila prays the Divine Mercy Chaplet on Sunday at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford. Parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Hartford scheduled a variety of devotions in observance of the Sunday of Divine Mercy. (Photo by Bob Mullen/The Catholic Photographer)

A Children's Rosary group at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in West Hartford recites the rosary while holding roses recently. A description of the use of flowers appears in Blythe Kaufman's Book Children's Rosary. (Photo submitted)

WEST HARTFORD – The Children’s Rosary organization has dedicated this Year of Faith to renewing family prayer.

The group, created by Dr. Blythe Kaufman, mother of three and a member of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, has helped establish Children’s Rosary prayer groups across the country.

"Our children have an enormous capacity for spirituality and a deep relationship with our Lord and his mother," said Dr. Kaufman. "The Children’s Rosary is a means for parents to expose their children to prayer at an early age and develop faith steeped in the tradition of the Catholic Church."

Volunteers prepare sandwiches for the homeless (CNS photo/Peggy Weber, The Catholic Observer)

NEW HAVEN – They hide in the steel-and-concrete underbellies of bridges. They hunker under stairways in tumbledown buildings. They shiver in shadowed alleyways. And for 24 years, Michael Guidone and his band of helpers have been finding them, feeding them, clothing them, helping them come back to some better kind of life.

In 1989, Mr. Guidone started what later became known as the Midnight Sandwich Run, an attempt to locate and feed homeless people in the New Haven area. The effort found traction, and it is now financed in part by donations to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal through St. Elizabeth Parish in Branford, which uses an allotment of appeal money under the Vicariate Outreach Program.

SIMSBURY – Can it be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the Shroud of Turin is the cloth that was wrapped around the body of Jesus when he was crucified 2,000 years ago? No.

But is there a plethora of evidence that strongly suggests that it is what believers claim it is? Yes.

That was the premise behind a two-hour presentation called "Shroud Encounter" on March 10 at St. Catherine of Siena Parish. The slide lecture was conducted by international shroud expert Russ Breault, founder of the Georgia-based Shroud of Turin Education Project Inc. He has lectured on the topic for 25 years.

Focusing on scientific, historic, liturgical, cultural and other evidence, he led an audience of 700 people through the story of the shroud. The 14-foot-long single piece of woven cloth resides behind bullet-proof glass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy.